KIEV, March 12. /TASS/. Ukraine’s government will work to return peace to the war-torn eastern Donbas region and for "restoration of Ukrainian sovereignty over Crimea", Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin told ministers on Thursday, reviewing the new cabinet’s 100 days in office.

"Granting international humanitarian, defense, technological and financial aid to Ukraine" remains a priority task alongside "using all diplomatic and legal means to gain release of Ukrainian nationals" detained abroad, Klimkin said.

Government efforts would focus on "returning peace and security to the country’s east and restoration of Ukrainian sovereignty over Crimea," he added.

Crimea's accession to Russia

The Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, a city with a special status on the Crimean Peninsula, where most residents are Russians, refused to recognize the legitimacy of authorities brought to power amid riots during a coup in Ukraine in February 2014.

Crimea and Sevastopol adopted declarations of independence on March 11. They held a referendum on March 16, in which 96.77% of Crimeans and 95.6% of Sevastopol voters chose to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the reunification deals March 18.

In the Soviet Union, Crimea used to be part of Russia until 1954, when Nikita Khrushchev, the first secretary of the USSR’s Communist Party, transferred it to Ukraine's jurisdiction as a gift.

Work to integrate the Crimean Peninsula into Russia’s economic, financial, credit, legal, state power, military conscription and infrastructure systems is actively underway now that Crimea has accessed to the Russian Federation.

Despite Moscow’s repeated statements that the Crimean referendum on secession from Ukraine was in line with the international law and the UN Charter and in conformity with the precedent set by Kosovo’s secession from Serbia in 2008, the West and Kiev have refused to recognize the legality of Crimea’s reunification with Russia.