The Ukrainian authorities are ready to discuss the status of Crimea with Russia if the Ukrainian armed forces reach the administrative borders of the peninsula. About it in an interview with the Financial Times declared Andriy Sibiga, Deputy Chief of Cabinet of the President of Ukraine.
“If we manage to achieve our strategic goals on the battlefield and when we are on the administrative border with Crimea, we are ready to open a diplomatic page to discuss this issue,” Sibiga explained.
At the same time, according to him, Kiev does not exclude a military solution to the question of the territorial affiliation of the peninsula. Sibiga noted that the recent discussion on Crimea by Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his entourage is linked to the planned offensive of the Ukrainian army.
Crimea was annexed to Russia in 2014 following a referendum. Ukraine, the United States, China and most other states have not recognized its results. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the question of the territorial affiliation of Crimea is closed.
After the start of the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Kiev repeatedly announced its intention to return Crimea to its control. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the military conflict will end only with Ukraine’s return to the 1991 borders. The head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, also stated that the Ukrainian leaders should “do everything so that by the summer (2023) Crimea returns home”.
The Kremlin has warned that it will view Ukraine’s attempt to return the peninsula as alienation from Russian territory. Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev claimed that if the Ukrainian army tries to retake Crimea, it will become the basis “for the use of all means of protection, including those provided by the doctrine fundamental to nuclear deterrence”.
On the eve of April 5, Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, said his country would be able to return Crimea in five to seven months. After that, according to him, the Ukrainian authorities will begin “the eradication of everything Russian”.
Reuters also wrote that for the next counter-offensive, Ukraine had prepared eight units with a total of 40,000 troops under the Interior Ministry. According to the agency, the unit’s fighters will fight alongside regular army units, which have been reinforced with new Western tanks, as well as thousands of soldiers trained by Western armies outside Ukraine. Reuters notes that the failure of the counter-offensive could encourage Ukraine supporters among Western countries to push Kiev to negotiate with Moscow.
