Zelensky: Russia has fired 750 cruise missiles at Ukraine from occupied Crimea

"Since February 24, 750 cruise missiles of different types have been launched at our communities from Crimea occupied by Russia. Imagine, 750 in half a year. They destroyed at least hundreds of civilian objects: schools, universities, ordinary houses, hospitals," President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said during the Crimea Platform summit, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The President believes that the restoration of Ukraine's control over the peninsula will be a historic anti-war step in Europe as it will restore security and ensure justice, reintegrate Crimea into the modern world.

"We will bring freedom to Ukrainian citizens in Crimea and will definitely restore justice for all those who suffered from repressions and abuses of the Russian occupiers. But in order to win, we need to remember how we got to where we are today. The degradation of Russia began with the seizure of Crimea, it began with the terror against the Crimean Tatar people – the indigenous people of Crimea – with religious repression which became perhaps the largest religious persecution in Europe in the 21st century against the Crimean Muslim community," Zelensky said.

The Head of State emphasized that people, who supported Ukraine and were not afraid of defending Ukrainian culture, had been ousted from the occupied peninsula. "There were murders and torture, humiliation and looting. The occupiers have been doing all this in Crimea," he said.

Zelensky underscored that rights and freedoms had been never suppressed on the peninsula under the Ukrainian government. "Because we respect people," he emphasized.

Russia occupied the Ukrainian Crimea and some areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions in 2014. On February 24, 2022, Russia unleashed a full-scale war against Ukraine.

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