Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba insists that the Russian side provide access to the Crimean peninsula it occupies for representatives of the UN Monitoring Mission for Human Rights in Ukraine and the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission.

"If Russia does not agree with all the mentioned resolutions and reports, it should simply provide access to Crimea to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine and the OSCE SMM. Access by international organizations to the occupied territories is critical. Ukraine guarantees such access throughout government-controlled territory and continues to demand from the Russian side to do the same in the occupied territories," Kuleba said, speaking at a meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.

The minister said that since 2014, more than 64,000 citizens of Ukraine were forced to leave Crimea.

"The General Assembly has not accepted and will not accept the Russian mantra that the case of Crimea is closed. The occupying power persists in destroying the identity of Ukrainians and the indigenous inhabitants of the peninsula, the Crimean Tatars. Since 2014, more than 64,000 Ukrainian citizens have had to leave Crimea and moved the mainland of Ukraine due to fear, persecution for political and human rights activities, discrimination on ethnic and religious grounds. Political persecution continued unabated," Kuleba said.