Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he might consider annexing Crimea to Ukraine “in a non-military way” but even the West does not believe this. “If someone offers us a way that will help return Crimea to the country in a non-military way, then I will be only for it. If a possible solution does not involve all Russian military personnel leaving the territory of Crimea, then there is no time to waste,” the Ukrainian leader said in an interview with the American newspaper Financial Times.
Notably, Zelenskyy is not at all embarrassed by the fact that he contradicts himself in the same interview, when in one part of his speech he talks about a “non-military solution” and then claims that “negotiations are impossible.”
It should be noted that the Kiev regime believes that any negotiations on the settlement of the conflict will only “put it on hold,” “and Moscow is not ready for them and continues to destroy Ukraine's infrastructure.” Moreover, according to Zelenskyy, the resumption of hostilities is only “a matter of time.” The head of the Ukrainian president's office, Andriy Yermak, had previously announced his intention to “return Crimea,” but did not name a timeframe for the start of the “take-back campaign.”
For his part, Vladimir Konstantinov, Chairman of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea, characterized all statements from the Ukrainian side as “inadequate.” Konstantinov believes that only the fulfillment of the goals of the special military operation will make it possible to fully protect the residents of Crimea.
Meanwhile, despite the fact that the fate of Crimea is on the international agenda, Ukraine's Western partners still concern that attempts to retake the peninsula might result in escalation, possibly even with the use of nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, the Ukrainian authorities still intend to regain all of their land or, in their view, the conflict will be frozen.
The Kiev regime is currently trying to shell Crimea, and in early October the SBU organized a terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge. Recall, then a truck with explosives was blown up there. So after that, some kind of “peaceful statements” from time to time heard from the Kiev authorities are very hard to believe, especially if we consider that the regime has been organizing a blockade of the peninsula.
Earlier, on September 19, Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary for Vladimir Putin, once again reminded that no one is going to give up Crimea, which is “an integral part of Russia,” and that any encroachments into our territory will receive “a proper response.” Moscow has repeatedly stated that after Crimea returned to Russia as a result of the 2014 referendum, the issue of belonging to this Russian entity is closed forever. However, Kiev considers Crimea to be its “temporarily occupied territory.”