Ukraine will “test and use” all non-prohibited weapons to liberate its territory, including Russian-occupied Crimea, NSDC Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said on Friday, as quoted by Reuters.

Danilov’s comments came at a time when Kyiv is expected to launch a counteroffensive in the coming weeks or months, aiming to retake Russian-controlled territory in the south and east of the country, Agerpres reports.

“Crimea is the territory of Ukraine, and we will test and use all weapons there, not prohibited by international laws, that will help liberate our territories,” he said in a post on Twitter.

Kyiv’s Western partners have provided crucial military support, including modern battle tanks and armored fighting vehicles, since the start of a full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.

But they did not provide heavier weapons, such as the F-16 fighter jets that Ukraine had requested.

Kyiv has also developed its own weapons, such as drones and the Neptune missile, which it says was used to sink the flagship of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea last year.

Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

On February 24, Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which it calls a “special military operation,” which Kiev and the West have condemned as an unprovoked, illegal and unjustified aggression, the first of its kind in Europe since World War II.

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