If the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) reaches the administrative borders of Crimea, Kiev will be ready to negotiate the status of the peninsula with Moscow. This was expressed in an interview with the British newspaper The Financial Times by Andriy Sibiga, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.
“If we succeed in achieving our strategic goals on the battlefield and are on the administrative border with Crimea, we are ready to open a diplomatic page to discuss this issue,” the Ukrainian official said.
According to Sibiga, Kiev is also considering a “military solution to the problem” with Crimea. He noted that President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed Crimea with his entourage “in connection with the planned offensive” of Ukrainian troops.
On April 5, adviser to the head of the Ukrainian Presidential office, Mikhail Podolyak, in an interview with Radio Liberty (the organization is included in the list of foreign agents by the Ministry of Justice), said that Russia supposedly has no talent. to hold on to “new territories”. At the same time, he expressed the view that the Armed Forces of Ukraine could seize Crimea in “six, five or seven” months.
“We will definitely be in Crimea in a very short time historically, in six months, five or seven months. Maybe this is too optimistic, but this optimism has been mathematically confirmed,” said Podolyak.
He added that after the return of Crimea to Ukrainian rule, “only the Ukrainian cultural space or the global cultural space should remain on the peninsula.” According to Podolyak, “traitors who have acquired Russian citizenship” will be “punished”.
The statements of Sibiga and Podolyak were interpreted by the Speaker of the Crimean Parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov, during a meeting with RIA Novosti.
“If Podolyak and characters like him want to go to the Crimea, then we are waiting. Don’t delay, we have something to talk to them about. The meeting will be short,” he said.
He added that if the “crying” of the Ukrainian authorities are again “exaggerating” the “clearance” of Crimea, “their business is bad”.
“We need something to distract the public from the plight of Ukraine, and in this case, the more stupid the arguments, the better it seems to be distracting the public. You have to take into account his level of stupidity. In this case, Ukraine is a world champion. Therefore, it is quite possible to hang colorful noodles on prepared Ukrainian ears about the resettlement of peoples, mass repressions and extraditions and other unscientific fiction, ”Konstantinov stressed.
He added that Podolyak’s remarks pointed to “the exacerbation of the Crimean problem in occupied Kiev in the spring.”
At the end of November, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would “only be in his favour” if he was offered “a way to de-occupy Crimea by non-military means”.
If the decision does not include giving up the occupation and Crimea is part of the Russian Federation, no one should waste time with it. This is a waste of time, ”the president of Ukraine said in a conversation with the Financial Times. According to him, if Kiev cannot return the lost lands, then “the war will be frozen.”
In December, the head of intelligence at the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, said that Kiev will unitely “return the territories”, combining diplomacy and military power.
“But without power, nothing will happen. Our units will go there with weapons in their hands,” he said.
Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov, stated in November that the “non-military path” that Zelenskiy mentioned for the return of Crimea was “misconstrued” by journalists. The Kremlin spokesman said that the Ukrainian constitution states that Crimea should be returned by force, and that Ukraine has not actually denied it.
“For us, this is nothing more than a discussion of the alienation of the territory of the Russian Federation. This is out of the question,” he said.
According to him, such statements show the “unwillingness, unwillingness and inability” of the Ukrainian authorities to resolve pressing issues by diplomatic means.
On March 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the country’s authorities will do everything to protect Crimea.
“We will do everything we can to stop any threat,” the president said. According to him, security issues are now a priority for Crimea and Sevastopol.