A mandatory condition for launching official negotiations on the issue of ending the Russo-Ukrainian war should be the restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders – including Crimea.
The declaration comes after the uncertainty brought on by last week’s presidential election in the US, in which President-elect Donald Trump scored a decisive victory. The former president has been a vocal critic of continued aid to Ukraine and claimed he could end the war “in a day.” Since his victory, US lawmakers and foreign allies alike have reportedly been seeking to shore up support for Ukraine and discuss possible alternatives to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s peace plan presented to partners last month.
The statement by the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people was posted on Facebook on Wednesday by the head of the representative body, Refat Chubarov, according to Ukrinform.
Since the first days of the Russian occupation of Crimea in 2014, the Crimean Tatar people have massively and decisively opposed Russia’s attempt to annex Crimea and supported the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the independent Ukrainian state.
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"Expressing the position of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people, the Mejlis proceeds from the fact that a mandatory condition for conducting formal negotiations on the issue of ending the Russo-Ukrainian war should be the restoration of the territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state within its internationally recognized borders," the statement reads.
The Mejlis commented on statements containing proposals for Ukraine to agree to the actual occupation of Crimea and other Ukrainian lands.
"The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people are positive that concessions in any form to Russia’s territorial encroachments on Crimea and other occupied lands in Ukraine will not only fail to bring the expected peace, it will also become a factor in the emergence of more military and political conflicts," the document states.
The statement also emphasized that Crimea is the homeland of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people and an integral part of Ukraine.
"Crimea is the homeland of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people and an integral part of the Ukrainian state. Accordingly, no decision regarding the territorial affiliation of the Crimean Peninsula, its legal status, organization of its political, economic, social, and cultural life should and can be made without the will of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people and the consent of the Ukrainian state," the document states.
Ukraine is making steady progress in its fight to retake Crimea a decade after Russia’s “little green men” first invaded the peninsula in 2014 – and more major advances are expected later this year.
Although Russian troops spent years digging-in in Crimea, turning the popular vacation spot into a military hub, special operations by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) over the last two years have decimated the Kremlin’s logistical capability and military readiness, according to a new report published by The Atlantic Council on Thursday.
“With international attention firmly fixed on the Russian army’s advances in eastern Ukraine and the Ukrainian invasion of Russia’s Kursk region, it is easy to overlook important developments taking place further south in Crimea,” wrote Serhii Kuzan, the Chairman of Ukraine’s Security and Cooperation Center and a former adviser to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
“During 2024, Ukraine has achieved a number of strategic successes in and around the Russian-occupied peninsula that are worthy of closer attention and could shape the ultimate outcome of the war,” he said.
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