The European Union will never recognize Russia’s attempted annexation of occupied Ukrainian territories and will continue to support Ukraine, an EU representative told the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
EU Ambassador to the United Nations Stavros Lambrinidis said this during a General Assembly debate on the situation in Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.
“Crimea, Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia are Ukraine. The European Union will never recognize as lawful any attempt by Russia to annex Ukrainian territory. We do not recognize the forced Russification of people and their communities, nor the results of any illegal so-called elections organized by the Russian occupation administration in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine,” Lambrinidis said.
He said Russia’s occupation was aimed not only at controlling territory but also at destroying the daily lives, rights and identity of Ukrainians living under Russian rule. Despite being denied access, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine have documented Russia’s actions in the occupied territories, he added.
