Zelensky says Crimea belongs to Ukraine, ‘position unchanged’ after Trump questioned its future
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visiting the site of a Russian missile attack in Kyiv on April 25.
PHOTO: AFP
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KYIV – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on April 26 that Crimea belongs to Ukraine and that his position had not changed after statements by US President Donald Trump questioning the future status of the peninsula, illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
Mr Trump has criticised Mr Zelensky for not agreeing to cede the Black Sea peninsula
“Our position is unchanged: only the Ukrainian people have the right to decide which territories are Ukrainian. The Constitution of Ukraine says that all the temporarily occupied territories... belong to Ukraine, to the Ukrainian people,” Mr Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv.
“Ukraine will not legally recognise any temporarily occupied territories,” he added.
“This is not our property, not my property. This is the property of the Ukrainian people who exist today, who will be born for generations to come, who will contribute to the development of our country,” he said, referring to territory, including Crimea, seized by Moscow.
Mr Trump has said that Ukraine “lost” Crimea “years ago” and that Kyiv did not fight for Crimea in 2014.
“I agree with President Trump that Ukraine does not have enough weapons to regain control of the Crimean peninsula with weapons,” Mr Zelensky said.
Russia claimed to have annexed Crimea after a pro-European Union revolution in Kyiv and later backed pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine. AFP
