Imagine waking up in your home town.

It’s a chilly, windy day.

A day that could be like so many others.

But foreign soldiers have set up camp at city hall, not far from your house.

They’re roaming the streets - and they want you to cast your vote.

Cast your vote in a sham referendum.

A sham referendum in which both options are “yes”.

This is what happened in Crimea. One decade ago.

Crimea is where the Russian aggression against Ukraine started. Not in February 2022. But in February 2014.

Crimea today is a place where no freedom exists.

Where owning a document that still bears the Ukrainian trident means you might be forced to “apologize” on camera.

Where listening to the song Chervona Kalyna in your own home can get you arrested.

Where owning a Ukrainian flag brings you 15 days of detention.

Those are just examples from this summer.

And as we all know, it doesn’t stop there.

Russia is prosecuting Crimean Tatars in show trials, deporting them to prisons in remote Russian regions.

And Russia has turned Crimea into a military springboard for its full-scale invasion.

We bow to the Crimean Tatars, who opposed this since 2014.

We applaud the successes of Ukrainian defenders in decreasing the maritime risk that Russia poses in the Black Sea.

And we welcome that Ukraine has cleared a path to bring its urgently needed grain to world markets again.

We will never accept Russia’s illegal occupation of Crimea.

It is legally null and void.

Germany is Ukraine’s largest supporter in Europe, both in military and civilian terms, with our support totaling close to 35 billion Euro since 2022.

We will remain by Ukraine’s side.

For as long as it takes.

So that Ukraine can win this war – and win its peace.

So that the people of Yalta and Simferopol will again wake up, facing a hopeful future.

As citizens of Crimea, that can sing their own songs in their own homes and fly their own flag.

As citizens of free Ukraine.

And – one day – as citizens of our European Union.