The Ukrainian president reaffirmed that peace can only be restored in Ukraine with the recovery of the territories occupied by Russia, including Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reaffirmed on Sunday that peace can only be restored to Ukraine with the recovery of Russian-occupied territories, including Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
“Nine years ago, the Russian aggression began with Crimea. By retaking Crimea, we will restore peace,” Zelensky wrote on the Telegram social network.
Zelensky’s message refers to the Day of Resistance to the Russian Occupation of Crimea, which Ukrainians celebrate today.
This same day in 2014, following an appeal by the leaders of the Crimean Tatars, thousands of people demonstrated to resist the Russian occupation” of the peninsula in southern Ukraine, according to the Urkinform agency.
“The next day, regular military formations of the Russian Federation entered the government buildings of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea,” Ukrinform said.
Subsequently, the occupation authorities organized a referendum, which took place under military occupation, the result of which was favorable to the integration of Crimea into the Russian Federation.
The treaty to that effect was signed on March 18, 2014 in Moscow by Russian President Vladimir Putin and pro-Russian leaders from Crimea.
At the same time, separatist forces from Donetsk and Lugansk, which make up the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine, launched a war against Kiev with the support of Moscow, which caused 14,000 deaths by the end of 2021, according to the UN.
The Russian intervention followed the February 2014 revolution in favor of Ukraine’s European integration, which deposed pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.
On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine again to “demilitarize and denazify” the neighboring country, and has since declared the annexation of four other Ukrainian regions: Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia.
Ukraine demands the withdrawal of Russian troops from all of its territory, including Crimea, as a precondition for eventual talks with Russia on ending the war.
Moscow rejects such conditions and claims that kyiv has to adapt to the new situation, which means the loss of all five territories.
“This is our land. Our people. Our history. We will return the Ukrainian flag to all corners of Ukraine,” Zelensky proclaimed today in a message alluding to Crimean Resistance Day.
The act was also marked by the US ambassador in Kiev, Bridget Brink, in a video message on the social network Twitter, in which she promised the Ukrainians Washington’s support in the fight for the liberation of the peninsula.
“On February 26, 2014, thousands of Crimean Tatars and other Ukrainians came together to declare: ‘We are Ukrainians. Crimea is Ukraine,’” the diplomat said.
“As you continue to fight for your sovereignty and democracy, the United States will work with you to create a future that offers freedom, dignity, and justice for all,” he added.
The current Russian war against Ukraine has plunged Europe into what is considered the worst security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
The number of civilian and military casualties from the conflict is unknown, but several sources, including the UN, have admitted that it will be high.
Source: Observadora
