Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has vowed that Ukraine will recapture its annexed peninsula of Crimea from Russia by any means it considered right, emphasizing that Kyiv would not consult other countries before doing so.
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"Crimea was and is Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said on August 23 during the Crimea Platform, an annual forum organized by Kyiv to ensure Russia's forceful annexation of the peninsula and its repression of citizens living there remains in the global spotlight.
Leaders of dozens of countries and international organizations took part in the one-day event, mostly via videolinks due to the ongoing Russian invasion.
Zelenskiy told the conference that Moscow's rule has brought environmental damage, economic decline, social repression, and militarism to Crimea and the Black Sea region.
Russia took control of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 following the overthrow of Kremlin-leaning President Viktor Yanukovch a month earlier. Moscow sought to legitimize its annexation with a staged referendum dismissed as illegal by at least 100 countries.
Over the past eight years Russia has ramped up the number of troops, equipment, and weapons on the peninsula. It served as a launching point for its invasion of Kyiv-controlled Ukraine in February.
Russia has launched at least 750 different cruise missiles from Crimea into Kyiv-controlled territories, destroying hundreds of civilian faciltiies, including schools, residential buildings, and hospitals, Zelenskiy told the audience.
"And that is why Ukraine's restoration of control over the Crimean Peninsula will be a historic anti-war step in Europe," Zelenskiy said.
Crimea is of strategic importance to Moscow as it is home to its Black Sea fleet. Analysts say it will be difficult for Kyiv to regain control of the peninsula.