President Petro Poroshenko called the approval by the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly of the UN Resolution “The Human Rights Situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol (Ukraine)” initiated by Ukraine a common victory.

“Yesterday, an exceptional event took place in New York – the Third Committee approved the Resolution by a vote of 73 in favor. This demonstrates support for the initiative of Ukraine and the majority of countries,” Petro Poroshenko noted at the meeting with G7 ambassadors.

“It is important that this Resolution clearly recognizes the Russian Federation as the occupational authorities in Crimea. This has been clearly stated at the international level for the first time. Just as it has been clearly stated that Crimea, Sevastopol remain the territory of Ukraine and have status of temporarily occupied areas,” the President said.

The Head of State emphasized that it was a great diplomatic victory. “We are sure that despite strong Russian counteraction, they failed to remove that issue from the agenda,” he added.

“Let me consider this victory a common one. I sincerely hope that we will have a better result during the vote at the UN plenary session,” the President noted.

The Head of State stressed the importance of proving to the aggressor that the obligation to follow rules and international law, respect sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine is mandatory for all, including Russia.