Ukraine's president vows to regain control of Russia-annexed Crimea

By Rabia Iclal Turan

ISTANBUL (AA) - The president of Ukraine vowed Tuesday to regain control of the Crimean peninsula that was annexed by Russia in 2014.

"We need to win the fight against Russian aggression, and therefore we need to free Crimea from occupation. It will end where it began," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at the opening of the Second Crimea Platform Summit.

"The degradation of Russia began with the seizure of Crimea," he said. "It started with terror against the Crimean Tatar people, the indigenous people of Crimea. With repression on religious grounds, which probably became the largest religious persecution in Europe in the 21st century against the Crimean Muslim community.”

Zelenskyy said Crimea is "not just some territory" for Ukraine, and noted it is a "part of our people, our society.”

"Crimea was and is Ukraine, and after de-occupation, along with our entire state, it will become part of the European Union," he said. “The passport of a citizen of Ukraine will also be the passport of the European Union. These are colossal opportunities for all our people living in Crimea."

The Ukrainian president added his country is "strong enough" to see a "perspective for the Ukrainian Crimea."

The summit was attended by Poland's President Andrzej Duda and Crimean Tatars leader Mustafa Abdulcemil Kirimoglu, with video messages from world leaders, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, European Council President Charles Michel and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The Crimea Platform is a diplomatic initiative of Ukraine that is intended to be an international coordination mechanism to draw global attention to Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.

The first summit was held Aug. 23, 2021, with attendance from more than 40 countries.