Ukrainian President Vows to 'Retake' Crimea in 2016

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he hoped Kiev would regain control of the “occupied” eastern region, along with the Crimean peninsula, by the end of the year.

Speaking at a press conference in Kiev on January 14, one day after a new round of peace talks officially opened in Minsk, Belarus, Poroshenko acknowledged that there was nothing too fanciful about such an outcome. The main issue is that Ukraine needs to have an action plan to ensure that the terms of the ceasefire agreement are strictly observed. The conflict in Donbass (including Luhansk and Donetsk) has erupted since April 2014 and has killed more than 9,000 people and displaced 2.2 million people.

President P. Poroshenko speaks at a press conference on January 14. Photo: Kyiv Post

According to the Ukrainian President, a possible way to speed up the “liberation” of Crimea is to launch negotiations in what he described as the “Geneva plus” format, with the participation of the United States, the European Union (EU) and possibly the signatories of the Budapest Memorandum. The Ukrainian head of state also said that Kiev is ready to resume electricity supply to Crimea, provided that the peninsula “remains Ukrainian.”

Regarding the situation in Donbass, Mr. Poroshenko believes that the government will “restore sovereignty” in this eastern territory in 2016. He pledged to use all legal tools and international negotiations to achieve this goal, in the context that the “enemy” can no longer maintain the momentum of continuing the counterattack.

Regarding Russia, the Ukrainian President declared that the era of dependence on Russian gas is over. “Our energy system is connected to Europe. Ukraine now imports twice as much gas from the EU as from Russia,” Mr. Poroshenko said.

* The Budapest Memorandum was signed in 1994 by representatives of Russia, the United States, and Ukraine, witnessed by the United Kingdom. This document clearly stipulates that Britain, Russia, and the United States will not threaten or use force against the territorial integrity and political independence of Ukraine after Kiev hands over all nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union to Russia. The countries also pledged not to use economic power to oppress Ukraine to achieve their own interests.

According to News