President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed that Ukraine would recapture its annexed peninsula of Crimea from Russia when it chooses and that Kyiv will not consult other countries before doing so.
He made the comments at a news conference in Kyiv after the leaders of dozens of countries and international organisations took part – most of them by video – in Crimea Platform, a forum hosted by Ukraine focused on the peninsula.
“We will take back Crimea- it is our territory. We will do this in any way which we decide. We will decide this by ourselves, without consultation with any other country in the world,” he said.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 years before launching its full-scale invasion in February this year, seizing chunks of Ukraine’s southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Ukraine has used Western-supplied weapons to target Russian supply lines and has pledged to conduct a major counteroffensive in the south.
There have been a spate of explosions in Crimea in recent weeks that Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for even as it has coyly hinted its forces have played a part.
In his comments yesterday, Zelensky addressed the crisis at the Russian-held nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia that has been hit by shelling in recent weeks, prompting calls for a mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the site.
Russia has proposed that the mission travel to the site of the nuclear power plant from annexed Crimea, a proposal that Zelensky said would be contrary to Ukraine’s laws.
“We know there were proposals for IAEA representatives to travel through occupied Crimea. We said that if this happens, then the IAEA will not (be able to) come to (Ukraine) anymore, according to our laws,” said Zelensky.
Western leaders addressing the Crimea Platform conference meanwhile warned Russia against annexing other parts of Ukrainian territory amid rumours Russia is planning to do so in various occupied areas.
Polish President Andrzej Duda, who attended the meeting in person with Zelensky, said the West’s muted reaction to the annexation constituted “appeasement” of Russia, adding there could be no more “business as usual” in the West’s relations with Moscow.
The 2014 annexation of Crimea led to a “clear deterioration of the humanitarian situation and of human rights in the peninsula”, said French President Emmanuel Macron, who vowed EU support to Ukraine “for the long term”.
Since February, Moscow has been using Crimea as a staging post for attacks on Ukraine as well as “a testing ground for the brutal methods Russia is now applying across the other occupied parts of Ukraine”, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the conference.
“Putin is planning to do to parts of Ukraine, indeed, to all of Ukraine, what he’s done to Crimea,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. “He is planning more annexations and more sham referendums, so it has never been more important to stand together.”
The Kremlin has led a Russification campaign in the territories it occupies, which includes giving out passports.
Kyiv also fears that Moscow may try to organise referendums on territories it has seized since the beginning of the war.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Western leaders “condemn Russia’s attempts to forcefully integrate parts of Ukrainian territory”.
“Any sham referenda or other attempts to alter the status of parts of Ukrainian territory will never be recognised. Such steps preclude any negotiations,” Scholz said.
Volodymyr Zelensky (File picture)
