US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland. (Reuters)
The top US diplomat for Europe declared that Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine are living under a "reign of terror" today, blaming Russia for a conflict that has claimed thousands of lives.
"Even as Ukraine is building a peaceful, democratic, independent nation across 93 percent of its territory, Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine are suffering a reign of terror," Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"Today Crimea remains under illegal occupation and human rights abuses are the norm, not the exception, for many at risk groups there," she said.
She said several groups - Crimean Tatars, Ukrainians who refuse to surrender their passports, gays and lesbians, journalists and others - are at risk of persecution.
"In eastern Ukraine, Russia and its separatist puppets unleashed unspeakable violence and pillage," she said.
"This manufactured conflict - controlled by the Kremlin; fueled by Russian tanks and heavy weapons; financed at Russian taxpayers' expense - has cost the lives of more than 6,000 Ukrainians, but also of hundreds of young Russians sent to fight and die there by the Kremlin, in a war their government denies."