One of the participants in the Ukrainian delegation at the talks in Istanbul, Mykhailo Podolyak, calls the proposal for " The official sees revolutionism in the return of the topic of Crimea to the negotiation agenda.

This position, of course, will not be accepted by everyone positively.. The head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Refat Chubarov, demands not to betray Ukraine and expresses confidence that the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Ukrainian political nation will not allow anyone to give up even a meter of Ukrainian territory, especially Crimea and Donbass.

The positions of Podolyak and Chubarov, as we see, differ radically. But these are the positions of Ukrainian citizens, each of whom is interested in winning the war launched by the Russian Federation against Ukraine.. However, there is one more position, without which it will not be possible to discuss any "

For Putin, Crimea is, I am sure, the basis on which the entire modern Russian regime is built.. It was the occupation and annexation of Crimea that made it possible to " Why, with a multi-party system, even with polyphony in politics - the only State Duma deputy who voted against the annexation, Ilya Ponomarev, had to literally flee the country.

It was the annexation of Crimea that finally turned information into propaganda - Russian TV channels have not regained consciousness since the occupation. It was the annexation of Crimea that finally turned Patriarch Kirill into an employee of the presidential administration. After several weeks of hesitation, the patriarch supported Krymnash and never again tried to at least refrain from supporting even those Putin’s decisions that created an abyss between him and his flock in Ukraine – everything ended with the blessing of the war in 2022.

That is why Putin, I am sure, will never agree to a single proposal that would even conditionally imply that he may doubt the Russian ownership of Crimea.. Such doubts are a direct road to the collapse of the system built by Putin. That is why among the conditions put forward by the Russian delegation at the talks in Belovezhskaya Pushcha is Ukraine's consent to the Russian status of Crimea. And we still don't know if Putin has refused this ultimatum..

Therefore, a compromise between Russia and Ukraine - if we can talk about any compromises at all - is not at all a “revolutionary proposal and not at all an ultimatum on the recognition of the Russian status of Crimea. I think the compromise is that Crimea will remain outside the negotiation process: Russia does not insist that Ukraine should recognize its Russian status, and Ukraine does not change its Constitution and retains both Crimea and Sevastopol in it.

It is clear that anyone who dreams of restoring the territorial integrity of Ukraine is painful to hear, but it seems that this is exactly the reality in which Ukraine lives.. Lives not at all for the second month, has been living for eight years. Since 2014, I have repeatedly had to argue that the main challenge for Ukraine is not at all how to return the territories occupied by Russia, but how not to lose new territories and generally survive as a state on the political map of the world. For most of my compatriots - including politicians - there was a completely different agenda. We seriously discussed what would happen if the Minsk agreements were implemented, many, including reasonable and prudent politicians and experts, argued that Putin wants to “shove” the occupied territories of Donbass into Ukraine and thereby stop the process of European and Euro-Atlantic integration of our.

The Crimean Platform summit, which was held on the 30th anniversary of our country’s independence, was seen as one of the most important diplomatic achievements of recent years – we have returned Crimea to the international agenda! Putin, meanwhile, seemed to have a completely different agenda.. It looks like the Russian president was preparing to occupy Ukraine, overthrow its power, create new "

And on February 24, 2022, these plans began to be implemented - and our entire previous agenda turned out to be refuted by life itself.. But we, Ukrainians, still continue to cling to it.. To cling even in a situation where only the courage of Ukrainian soldiers and international support allow us to hope that new Ukrainian regions will not be lost during this war, that the invader will be forced to leave the occupied cities.

Does all this mean that I do not believe in the return of Crimea? and Donbass? No, just the opposite. I am absolutely sure that the territorial integrity of Ukraine will be restored. I have no doubt that the preservation of Ukraine as a state and international sanctions against Russia will lead to the collapse of the aggressive regime and the refusal of the new Russian authorities from the policy of seizing foreign territories.. If the Russians want to return to the civilized world, they will have to give up not only Putin. They will also have to give up Crimea.

From Ukrainians - if only they really want to live in a coherent country - what is required, I am sure, is the main thing: to protect Ukrainian statehood and prevent Putin from becoming a recognized international player again..

Original.