In his speech on Friday night, President Volodymyr Zelensky interrupted the controversy that has arisen in recent days regarding Crimea and the possible flexibility of Kyiv’s position on peace talks, clearly stating that Ukraine will not abandon the goal of returning the entire territory. occupied by the Russians, including the peninsula illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014.

In recent days, conflicting signals have been coming from Ukraine regarding the idea of ​​negotiations regarding Crimea. The controversial statements started directly from Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s office, they were made by two of his advisers, News.ro notes.

Andriy Sybiga, deputy chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, told the Financial Times on Wednesday that Kyiv would be ready to discuss the future of Crimea with Moscow if a Ukrainian counteroffensive recaptures occupied territories in the south and east and reaches the administrative border with the peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014. . On Thursday, Mykhailo Podolyak, a close presidential adviser to Zelenskyi, appeared to dispute Sybiga’s remarks on Twitter. “The basis for real negotiations with (Russia) is the complete withdrawal of Russian armed forces beyond the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine in 1991. Including Crimea,” he said. “We are not talking about any territorial concessions or negotiations about our sovereign rights,” Podolyak said.

The conflicting remarks caused confusion, and it was unclear whether they reflected a split on the issue within the Ukrainian elite, or whether the initial statement was perhaps intended to signal to foreign powers that are making diplomatic efforts to bring peace to Ukraine. Reuters.

In a separate statement, Zelenskyi’s spokesman, Serhiy Nikiforov, told the Ukrainian television company Liga Net that only the president can talk about possible peace talks.

On the other hand, the Ukrainian leader himself said last year that he believes that the problem of Crimea can be solved diplomatically.

All these assumptions were clarified by Zelensky in his address to the nation on Friday evening. “The world should know: respect and order will return to international relations only when the Ukrainian flag returns to Crimea, when there is freedom – as everywhere in Ukraine,” said the President of Ukraine.

Zelensky honors the Crimean Tatars

After mentioning the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims, he used the opportunity to remind that Ukraine has a Tatar community in Crimea, which was oppressed by Moscow after the annexation of the peninsula and which fights in the ranks of the Ukrainian army, and announced that he would honor them every year. On Friday evening, Zelensky said he had already done so, visiting the Crimean Tatar Cultural Center and attending an iftar dinner.

“Hundreds of thousands of Muslims in Ukraine and the Muslim community around the world – in different countries, different nations – observe strict fasting during the holy month of Ramadan. When the sun sets, the iftar dinner takes place. In Ukraine, he is revered everywhere, even at the front, even in combat conditions. The Crimean Tatar people celebrate Ramadan. Respect should always be mutual. Therefore, starting this year, such a special event of honor will take place in Ukraine annually with the participation of the Head of State. And today is the first time in the Cultural Center of the Crimean Tatars,” said Zelensky.

“I had the honor to award our soldiers, Ukrainian Muslims, who fight together with everyone in the Defense Forces of Ukraine. I had the honor of sharing iftar with our soldiers, with representatives of the Mejlis and with the entire Ukrainian Muslim community. And I want to thank all those in the large world Muslim community who support our principle – the principle that no one is allowed to destroy the peace with aggression, which is given to everyone on Earth equally by God, who values ​​every nation as much as we do in Ukraine.” – emphasized Zelensky.

Ukraine does not give up Bakhmut

On the other hand, regarding the situation at the front, the Ukrainian leader emphasized that “the main attention is paid to the battles for Avdiivka and Bakhmut, for the Luhansk region, in each of these directions, where the enemy is trying to break the defense of the village. all of Ukraine”.

The military, who are fighting there and resisting at the hottest points of the front line, “are winning stability for Ukraine, for the entire state,” Zelenskyy emphasized, thereby hinting that there is no question of withdrawal yet, and Kyiv is sticking to its strategy: confront Bakhmut, block the enemy and cause him as much losses as possible, in the perspective of the expected counterattack.

Zelenskyi also noted that new brigades are being prepared, troops are being supplied with ammunition and weapons.

“Long meeting dedicated to energy”

The President also reported that during the day he had a “long meeting devoted to energy”, at which he spoke both about strategic aspects – the development and protection of the energy system in any conditions, and about actual aspects – energy supply to the population and Ukrainian enterprises.

The country’s energy infrastructure has come under repeated Russian attacks, and Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia, which has contributed significantly to the country’s energy production, has been under Russian occupation since the first months of the war and has shut down all six reactors. In addition, there is growing concern, including from the United Nations Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), that its security will be impossible to maintain, as the front line passes through the Zaporizhzhia region.

Zelenskyi also announced that a list of sanctions against “persons who work for aggression” will be drawn up. They will be “blocked”, he said, most likely referring to representatives of the clergy associated with the Moscow Patriarchate.

How many soldiers did Ukraine lose?

At the end of his speech on Friday evening, the Ukrainian leader announced that on Friday he signed decrees awarding 771 fighters, and in total, since the beginning of the war, he has awarded awards to more than 43,500 Ukrainian defenders.

He did not specify how many of those honors were awarded posthumously, but the mention of that tally comes at a time when one of the most discussed topics on Friday was the leak of documents related to the war and the expected counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces. , a security breach reported by The New York Times. The NYT article revealed that some of the documents that appeared on social media appeared to have been altered. For example, the estimate of Ukrainian military casualties was much higher than Western estimates available today, while Russian casualties on the battlefield were minimized. The NYT article cited military analysts who warned that it appeared to be a Russian disinformation campaign.

Ukraine does not disclose the size of its losses and is very sensitive to this topic.

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