MOSCOW, Apr 5 In the office of Vladimir Zelensky claim that Kiev is ready to negotiate with Russia over Crimea if Ukrainian troops reach its borders, the Financial Times reports.
«If we manage to achieve our strategic goals on the battlefield and when we are on the administrative border with Crimea, ready to open a (diplomatic) page to discuss this issue,» Zelensky's deputy head of office Andriy Sibiga told the publication. does not rule out a military way of taking Crimea under its control.
Advisor to the head of Zelensky’s office, Mikhail Podolyak, said that in the next 5-7 months, Ukraine will take Crimea under its control militarily, since Russia does not have the resources to control the situation .
Advisor to Acting Head of the DPR Denis Pushilin, Yan Gagin, commenting on Podolyak’s words, said that the Ukrainian army was not ready for this: “to take Crimea, you have to reach it,” and this “will be very difficult due to the defense in depth.”< br>Crimea became a Russian region in March 2014 following a referendum after the coup in Ukraine. In the 2014 referendum, 96.77% of voters in Crimea and 95.6% in Sevastopol were in favor of joining Russia. Ukraine still considers Crimea its temporarily occupied territory, many Western countries support Kyiv on this issue. For its part, the Russian leadership has repeatedly stated that the inhabitants of Crimea voted for democratic reunification with Russia, in full compliance with international law and the UN Charter. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the issue of Crimea «is finally closed.»