Ukraine's loss of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea could have cost Kiev at least 85 billion U.S. dollars, the country's Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko said here Wednesday.

"The Justice Ministry will establish a special unit to return assets and compensate damages caused by the illegal annexation of Crimea," Petrenko told the briefing.

Ukraine incurs losses every day due to the inability to use the Black Sea shelf situated at the territorial waters surrounding Crimea and the peninsula's port infrastructure, Petrenko said.

Local analysts estimated Black Sea shelf gas reserves at more than 165 billion cubic meters and oil deposits at 44 to 47 million tons.

On March 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty to integrate Crimea and its city of Sevastopol into Russia, following a referendum which found that a large majority of Crimeans supported the affiliation.