The Russian war against Ukraine and against entire free Europe began with Crimea and must end with Crimea – its liberation. Today it is impossible to say when this will happen. But we are constantly adding the necessary components to the formula for the Crimea liberation.
According to Ukrainian media this was stated by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in a traditional video message on Tuesday.
"Russia has turned our peninsula, which has always been and will always be one of the best places in Europe, into one of the most dangerous places in Europe. Russia brought massive repression, environmental problems, economic stalemate and war to Crimea," he said.
According to Zelensky, "historians will someday determine how many people were killed due to Russia's use of Crimea for terror. Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? From Ukraine and Georgia to Syria and beyond."
"The presence of Russian occupiers in Crimea is a threat to all of Europe and to global stability. The Black Sea region cannot be safe while Crimea is occupied. There will be no stable and lasting peace in many countries on the Mediterranean coast as long as Russia can use our peninsula as its military base," he said.
Zelensky reminded about the Crimea platform, a key diplomatic platform for work on the liberation of Crimea. The Crimea platform will work this year as well. We are already preparing this summit, he said.
According to him, "the world is beginning to admit that it was wrong in 2014 when it decided not to give full answers to Russia's first aggressive steps."
"Our state is native to peoples whose national cultures and aspirations were formed in Crimea. Therefore, when we work to liberate the peninsula, we are fighting for the restoration of the territorial integrity of our state, and for returning home to the indigenous peoples of Ukraine," the President said.
"I believe it will be so. I know that we will return to Ukrainian Crimea. And I am grateful to all our partners and international organizations that help us in this," Zelensky said.
According to him, "this year the work of the Crimea Platform will be no less weighty and representative than last year, when its first summit was held in Kyiv. The format will be different, but the meaning will be even greater."
