The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine stated today, Friday, that his country will “test and use” any non-prohibited weapons to liberate its lands, including Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014.
Oleksey Danilov’s comment came amid expectations that Kiev will launch a counter-offensive in the coming weeks or months with the aim of recapturing Russian-held territory in the south and east since Russian forces attacked Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
“Crimea is Ukrainian territory, we will test and use there any weapons that are not prohibited by international laws, and this will help liberate our lands,” Danilov wrote on Twitter.
Ukraine has often renewed its declaration that it will not give up Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014 in exchange for ending the war , as Kiev rejected a proposal by Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva more than a week ago.
Lula suggested that Ukraine cede Crimea to Russia in order to end the war, arguing that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could not “have it all”.
Last Wednesday and Thursday in Bucharest, Romania and Ukraine organized the first conference on Black Sea security in cooperation with the International Crimean Platform, a mechanism aimed at “abolishing the occupation of Crimea and restoring the security of the Black Sea,” according to the Ukrainian government.
Battles for Bakhmut continue
Currently, the fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces is concentrated in the city of Bakhmut in the east, which Russian forces have focused their attacks on for several months as part of their attempts to control the industrial region of Donbass.
Bakhmut became a symbol of the conflict between the Russians and the Ukrainians for control of the Donbass region, which is Moscow’s stated goal, and the Ukrainian forces were forced to withdraw from some lands in Bakhmut with Russia launching a new offensive there
In the face of the intensification of the battles, the West continues to extend its support to Kiev, as the Westerners provided the necessary military support to Ukraine, including tanks and modern armored vehicles, but they refrained from providing heavier weapons such as the F-16 fighters that Ukraine requested.
Kiev is also developing its own weapons, such as drones and Neptune missiles, which it says it used to sink the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet last year.
Yesterday, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called on Western countries to make the Black Sea a “sea of the alliance” a year after the destruction of the Russian warship ” Moskva ” by two Ukrainian missiles in an attack that at the time constituted a “harsh blow” to Moscow.
This was preceded by the warning of the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister that the risks of a clash between Russian forces and NATO forces are increasing
Source: alaraby