Ukraine's Foreign Ministry believes Crimea will be liberated both by military and diplomatic means

Ukraine is considering both military and diplomatic ways of liberating Crimea, and it also does not rule out a mixed option.

Source: Emine Dzhaparova, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, in an interview with Ukrinform news agency

Quote: "It seems to me that today we have both ways – both military and diplomatic. And they are both relevant. For example, Croatia, when there was a war in the 1990s, returned two-thirds of its territory militarily, and one-third diplomatically.

As President Zelenskyy and the entire leadership of the country say, Crimea is an integral part of Ukraine.

And the minister [of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba – ed.] also said in a speech today [at the Black Sea Security Conference in Bucharest – ed.] that if you hear voices somewhere out there, [saying] that it is possible to return Crimea after giving first one thing and then another – this is not true, and Ukraine rejects and categorically disagrees with such opinions.

Secondly, the return of Crimea will be determined by Ukraine itself. And, considering the war, this path will obviously be implemented in two ways – both military and diplomatic."

Details: Dzhaparova considers Ukraine's main achievement in the Crimea-related issue to be the fact that "the world has recognised that Crimea is an integral and inseparable part of Ukraine."

She said that partners support the statement that the way of reclaiming Crimea should be determined by Ukraine itself.

The representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that everyone has learned the "Crimean lesson".

Quote: "Because then, in 2014, we as a country, and the world as a community, were unable to stop this evil, and it spread forth. Putin perceived all our diplomatic negotiations and attempts – especially those by European leaders, to find such a language that Putin would hear, or such a leader who he would have listened to – as a weakness, and [the Russian leader] carried out the next step of his aggression on 24 February.

Therefore, this "Crimean lesson" that we are talking about today at the Black Sea Security Conference is very significant."

Note: The first Black Sea Security Conference was held on 12-13 April in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, which completed the creation of the architecture of the International Crimean Platform – a coordination mechanism for the liberation of the Crimean Peninsula.

Representatives from more than 50 countries and organisations took part in the event initiated by Ukraine and implemented in partnership with Romania.

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