Ukraine gives Russia two options: Leave Crime Peaceably or Prepare for Battle

Ukraine has not changed its plans to return territory occupied by Russia, including Crimea.

“Ukraina will choose the way to restore the Crimea, using political and military tools”, Tamila Tasheva, the Ukrainian President for Crime, told POLITICO.

“to minimise Ukrainian military losses, minimize threats against civilians living in occupied territories, as well as to destroy civilian infrastructure, Ukraine plans to give Russia a choice on how to leave the Crimea. If they refuse to leave voluntarily, Ukraine will continue to release its land by military means”, Tasheva added.

Her comments come after Andriy Syhbika, deputy chairman of the president's office, gave an interview for the Financial Times in which he said Ukraine might be ready to discuss the future of the Crimea with Moscow if Kiev manages to achieve its strategic goals in the field of battle.

“We are ready to open a diplomatic page to discuss this issue”, Syhbika said in the interview, referring to Kiev's long-planned counterattack. “This does not mean that we exclude the path of [crime] deliverance from our army. ”

Syhbisa's comments were presented as an expression of interest by Ukraine for negotiations with Russia for the first time since Ukrainians officially ruled out peace talks with Vladimir Putin last fall.

The Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council adopted a legal resolution on September 30th last year declaring that any negotiations with Putin was impossible in light of Russia's attempt to annex Ukraine's territories in Kherson, Zaporzhija, Donnetsk and Luhansk.

Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelensky also cemented Ukraine's intention to free all its territories, including Crimea, in the 10-step peace formula he presented at the G20 summit. The president has not changed his “position, Ihor Zovkva, deputy chairman of the president's office, told POLITICO.

Until the 2022 invasion, Ukraine viewed political and diplomatic talks as the main way to restore Crime, which was annexed by Russia in 2014 under Kiev's control.

But things changed after the full invasion, Tasheva said.

After what we saw in Bucha, Marioupol, Izyum, Russia closed every opportunity for negotiations. And also, many times the Kremlin claimed there would be no communication for the future of the Crime Peninsula”, Tasheva said.

She added that Ukrainian authorities have said several times that their position on the status of the Crimea cannot be a topic of discussion, which is Ukrainian territory.

Moreover, Ukrainian officials have been working on a strategy on how to deal with hundreds of crime associates after de-understanding, said Olexy Danilov, secretary of the Ukrainian security council and defence, in a Facebook post.

His planned proposals include the forced shift of all Russian citizens who moved to Crime after 2014 and the return of property stolen to Ukrainians.

Only the president can decide how to return the Crimea. But we're already thinking about the ways to re-integrate it in the best way”, Danilov told POLITICO.