Zelenskyy does not rule out talks with Russia on Crimea after Ukrainian Armed Forces reach its administrative border

Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Sybiga does not rule out that Ukraine may start negotiations with the aggressor country Russia on the future of Crimea. According to him, this can happen only after the Armed Forces of Ukraine reach the administrative borders of the temporarily occupied peninsula.

Sybiga stressed that our country is ready to turn to diplomacy only after the Armed Forces of Ukraine achieve strategic goals on the battlefield. He said this in an interview with the Financial Times.

According to the deputy head of the Presidential Office, Ukraine is ready to open a diplomatic page to discuss the future of Crimea. At the same time, Sybiga assured that Ukraine does not rule out the liberation of Crimea by military means.

Sybiga added that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his aides are now talking about Crimea as the Ukrainian army is about to launch a counter-offensive.

For its part, the FT believes that the deputy head of the Presidential Office may reassure Western officials who are sceptical about Ukraine's ability to regain Crimea militarily and fear that this could lead to an escalation of the war, including the use of nuclear weapons by dictator Vladimir Putin.

As reported earlier, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, is confident that the de-occupation of Crimea will definitely take place. He believes that all the "logic of war, the mathematics of weapons and resource capabilities" indicate that this will happen in a very short time (from a historical point of view).

Earlier, the Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov named 12 steps to de-occupy Crimea. He pointed out the need to punish collaborators, release Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars imprisoned by Russia, dismantle the Crimean bridge and rename Sevastopol to Akhtiar.

By the way, Danilov expressed his belief that Crimea can be liberated only by military means. According to him, the strategy for the de-occupation of the peninsula, adopted in March 2021, lost its meaning after Russia invaded Ukraine in a bloody war.

As reported by OBOZREVATEL:

- Russian occupiers have built a double line of trenches in the north of Ukrainian Crimea. The invaders began to create new defence lines in early 2023, in particular, across the Perekop Isthmus.

- Long lines of fortifications also appeared on the coast of Yevpatoria. And the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine hinted that the Russians are not worried for nothing.

- Read about what is happening on the temporarily occupied peninsula in our publication's article here.

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