The office of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Kiev is ready for negotiations with Russia on Crimea. But they will only take place if the Ukrainian army manages to reach the borders of the peninsula, Andriy Sibiga, deputy head of Zelenskyy’s office, told the Financial Times.
“If we manage to achieve our strategic goals on the battlefield and when we find ourselves on the administrative border with Crimea, we are ready to open a (diplomatic) page to discuss this issue,” said Andrei Sibiga.
As the authors of the material clarified, Sibiga meant a counteroffensive, which has been planned in Kiev for a very long time. Sibiga also added that attempts by Ukraine to take Crimea under its own control by military means cannot be ruled out.
Earlier, an adviser to Volodymyr Zelensyy’s office, Mikhail Podolyak, said that the Ukrainian side could return Crimea in five to seven months. Podolyak also called his statement too optimistic, while stressing that this optimism is “mathematically verified”. The adviser added that hostilities in Ukraine would continue until the whole country “is liberated”.
The message In Kiev, set a condition for the start of negotiations with Moscow on Crimea
