The United States is not asking Ukraine to leave Crimea “out of the picture” in negotiations with Russia. Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova stated this on Radio NV, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to Markarova, Zelensky has prepared his plan, which talks about the need to capture those regions that have been liberated by Russia since 2014.
“The issue of Crimea has never been raised separately. Crimea is Ukraine and this position has never been raised. Once again, President Zelensky’s peace formula is a proposal from Ukraine, a vision of Ukraine, which all diplomats are actively discussing with our allies. Before they were formulated by the president into a ten-step peace formula, these positions were voiced by President Zelensky almost with the start of a full-scale invasion: the return of our territorial integrity and, when we talk about territorial integrity, we are talking about the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine.
Therefore, in this case, Crimea is no different from other regions that were captured by Russia in 14-15 or those that were temporarily occupied this year. Therefore, restoring territorial integrity, returning all our people is a very important position, holding everyone accountable, rebuilding - everything that is written in the peace formula is the strategy in which we are moving,” Markarova said.