The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has called on the international community to step up political, diplomatic and economic pressure on Russia with a view to ending its armed aggression against Ukraine and returning Russia to the international legal field.

The ministry said this in a statement on the sixth anniversary of the beginning of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine.

"On February 20, 2014, Russian troops began the occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, undermining peace and security on the continent. [...] The consequences of an international crime committed by Russia are tragic - the occupation of part of the territory of Ukraine, tens of thousands of people killed and injured, one-and-a-half million internally displaced persons and millions of Ukrainian citizens forced to live in temporarily occupied territories in the conditions of terror and systematic human rights violations," the statement reads.

The ministry stressed that Russia also ignores its international obligations as an occupying country. "In particular, the very manifestation of Ukrainian identity is a grave crime in the eyes of the occupiers. The indigenous people of Crimea, the Crimean Tatars, are experiencing repression. Persecution for political motives on the basis of trumped-up accusations has become a common practice for the Russian occupation government," the statement reads.

The occupiers' crimes include carrying out an illegal call-up to the Russian armed forces, the systematic policy of resettling Russian residents to temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories in order to change their demographic composition, compulsory passportization of Ukrainian citizens, accelerated militarization of occupied territories, the ministry said.

"We demand that Russia start the unconditional fulfillment of its obligations as a party to the international armed conflict, immediately cease fire and start resolving the situation in Donbas on the basis of agreements reached within international formats. [...] We call on the international community to further step up political, diplomatic and economic pressure on the Russian Federation with a view to ending its armed aggression against Ukraine, releasing illegally imprisoned citizens of Ukraine, complying with relevant decisions of international organizations and international courts, releasing temporarily occupied territories and returning Russia to the international legal field," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.

Finally, Ukrainian diplomats thanked international partners for political and practical support in protecting Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

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