The Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelensky, was convinced this Sunday, Day of Resistance to the Russian Occupation of Crimeathat peace can be restored with the return to the Ukrainians of this peninsulaannexed by Russia in 2014.
“Nine years ago the Russian aggression began in the Crimea. If we return the Crimea, we will restore peace. It is our land. Our town. Our history. We will return the Ukrainian flag to all corners of Ukraine”, Zelensky wrote in a message on Telegram.
For his part, US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, he addressed the Ukrainians on this day and promised his country’s support in the struggle for the liberation of the peninsula. “On February 26, 2014, thousands of Crimean Tatars and other Ukrainians gathered to declare: ‘We are Ukrainians. Crimea is Ukraine’. As they continue to fight for their sovereignty and democracy, America will work with you to create a future that offers freedom, dignity, and justice for all.”, he said in a message on Twitter.
The United States condemns Russia’s attempt to change the demographics of Crimea, including human filtration operations to forcibly deport and disappear Ukrainian civilians. “We urge Russia to immediately release all unjustly imprisoned Ukrainian citizens and join you in declaring once again: Crimea is Ukraine”, he stressed in his video message.
ukrinform remember that nine years ago, Russian sabotage groups began attempts to take Crimea.
On February 26, 2014, convened by the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, the representative body of this minority, thousands of Crimean Tatars, Ukrainians and representatives of other nationalities gathered near the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea to resist the Russian occupation and declare the integrity of Ukraine.
The next day, regular Russian military units entered the government buildings of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
After the invasion unleashed a year ago, Ukraine says it will not rest until the last Russian soldier is driven out, including Crimea.
Putin says the war is for Russia’s survival
For his part, the President Vladimir Putin He characterized the confrontation with the West over the war in Ukraine as an existential battle for the survival of Russia and the Russian people, saying that he has been forced to reckon with NATO’s nuclear capabilities.
“They have one goal: to dissolve the former Soviet Union and its fundamental part, the Russian Federation,” Putin told state television. Rossiya 1 in an interview recorded Wednesday but released Sunday.
Putin claimed that the tens of billions of dollars of US and European military aid to Ukraine showed that Russia was now facing NATO itselfthe Cold War nightmare of Soviet and Western leaders.
One year after ordering the invasion of Ukraine, Putin is increasingly portraying the war as a defining moment in Russian history and saying he believes the very future of Russia and its people is in jeopardy.
NATO and the West dismiss that version, saying their goal is to help Ukraine defend itself against an unprovoked attack.
