Ukrainian President Zelenskyy announces preparations for the seizure of Crimea

Preparations for the seizure of Crimea are underway claimed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a press conference.

Speaking at a press conference this Friday, February 24, when asked bout the chances of taking Crimea back from the Russians this year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy replied that plans are being prepared. He stopped short of providing any timeframe though, according to tass.ru.

“There are military steps, we are preparing for them. We are mentally prepared. We are preparing technically, with weapons, reinforcements, the formation of brigades, the formation of offensive brigades of different categories and different nature, we send people for training, not only in Ukraine, you know, but also on the sites of other states”, he detailed.

In November 2022, Zelenskyy said in an interview with the British newspaper the Financial Times that he would “only be for it” if someone suggested to Ukraine how to return Crimea “in a non-military way.

At the time, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed out that Moscow perceived Zelenskyy’s statement as a discussion about the alienation of Russian territories, which was out of the question.

Leonid Slutsky, the head of the Duma committee for international affairs, also said that the Russian Federation would give “an immediate and crushing response” to all attempts to seize Crimea.

After the coup d’etat in Ukraine in February 2014, the authorities of Crimea and Sevastopol held a ‘referendum’ on reunification with Russia. More than 80 per cent of those who had the right to vote took part in it. As a result, 96.7 per cent and 95.6 per cent respectively voted for reunification with the Russian Federation.

On March 18, 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an agreement on the admission of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol to the Russian Federation, subsequently, on March 21, the document was ratified by the Federal Assembly.

Despite the convincing results of this illegal and internationally unrecognised referendum supporting reunification, most countries still recognise Crimea as part of Ukraine.

___________________________________________________________

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. Do remember to come back and check The Euro Weekly News website for all your up-to-date local and international news stories and remember, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.