Ukrainian president vows to reclaim Crimea to ensure global food security via Black Sea

By Esra Tekin

ISTANBUL (AA) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Black Sea plays a critical role in global food security and social stability, with Crimea at the center of this important role, and vowed to reclaim it from Russia to ensure security in the region.

“The Black Sea is the key to global food and social stability. Crimea is the key to security in the Black Sea. We cannot and will not leave the keys in the hands of ‘terrorists,’” Zelenskyy said on Wednesday at the 3rd Crimea Platform summit in Kyiv.

The proof, Zelenskyy said, is at "the dinner tables of every family in the world," after his country freed a part of the Black Sea from Russian control and began grain exports by sea, which he claimed reduced global food prices again.

He further said that the main task of the Crimea Platform is “to prepare the de-occupation.”

“We understand how we will return to Crimea. We understand how many steps we all need to take. We understand how difficult and important this task is. But we see this path,” he added.

The president said Ukraine has demonstrated that global stability can solely be achieved through Ukraine's involvement and effective countering of “Russia's aggressive intentions.”

“And when someone in the world talks about this – about our territory occupied by Russia – every time it is not about empty land… it is about the land of children, the land of parents.

“Millions of families, different people, different destinies. Lives that have been and that are yet to come. And they will come. All these lives must be free,” he said.

He added that the process of retaking Crimea, as well as all other regions of Ukraine currently under Russian control, will eventually take place.

“Ukraine does not trade territories, because Ukraine does not trade people. That's it!” he remarked.

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 annexation of Crimea in 2014.

The first summit was held on Aug. 23, 2021, with attendance from more than 40 countries, while the second summit took place on the same date last year.

This year, 63 states and international organizations are represented at the summit, according to Zelenskyy.