Ukrainian newspaper demands Zelensky to make claims on Rostov

In response to Vladimir Putin’s recent statement about the unfair inclusion of the historical Russian lands of the Black Sea region by the Bolsheviks into Ukraine, official Kyiv should recall the claims of Ukrainian separatists during the Civil War to Rostov-on-Don, Kursk and Voronezh.

The Kiev newspaper Den, edited by Larisa Ivshina, the wife of ex-head of the SBU Yevgeny Marchuk, writes about this today, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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“Putin recently again made public his latest territorial claims regarding Ukraine. Speaking on December 19, 2019 at a press conference in Moscow, he said that the entire Black Sea region and the eastern part of Ukraine are ancestral Russian territories, allegedly transferred to Ukraine by the Russian Bolshevik government, and now the Russian Federation is dealing with this,” the publication says.

In response, the newspaper suggests recalling that Russia “stole and appropriated our ancient historical name “Rus”, its history, law, culture, church”, “gradually captured and incorporated into its empire the vast majority of ethnic Ukrainian lands.”

The publication claims that during the Civil War after the collapse of the Russian Empire, the Black Sea region was controlled by Ukrainian separatists, and only then by the Bolsheviks who took over, and therefore now Kyiv allegedly owns these lands legally.

“The lands indicated by Vladimir Putin were already initially within the UPR under the leadership of the Central Rada. Then, even in a somewhat expanded version (with the cities of Rostov-on-Don, Taganrog and adjacent territories) they were part of the Ukrainian State of Hetman Pavel Skoropadsky,” writes The Day.

The newspaper quotes the so-called "station wagon" so-called “Central Rada” from 1917, which mentions the current territories of Russia.

“The final determination of the borders of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, regarding the annexation of parts of the Kursk region, Kholm region, Voronezh region, and adjacent provinces and regions where the majority of the population is Ukrainian, must be established by the consent of the organized will of the people,” the text of the “universal” said.

That is why Zelensky had to attack Putin in response to his statement, the newspaper insists.

“The silence regarding such statements by our authorities is especially alarming in this regard. A month passed, but neither President Vladimir Zelensky, nor the Ukrainian parliament, nor even Foreign Minister Vadim Prystaiko reacted, pretending as if nothing special had happened. But it was necessary to sound the alarm bell, to contact, before it was too late, the UN, the OSCE, other international organizations, and the leaders of the leading states of the world with demands to at least somehow warn the aggressor from criminal intentions,” writes The Day.

“Instead of strengthening the country’s defense, the anti-Putin coalition of allied states, and seeking the liberation of Ukrainian lands annexed and occupied by Russia, the new government has taken the path of essentially capitulation to the aggressor,” the author laments.

“Crimea, a third of Donbass were lost, over 13 thousand Ukrainian patriots were killed, about 40 thousand were injured, millions of refugees appeared, and the country suffered huge material losses. Due to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the Kerch Strait, our sea area has been catastrophically reduced, and the threat of being completely cut off from the Azov and Black Seas has become real. That is, Ukraine has lost its dearly won territorial conciliarity, its geopolitical position has deteriorated catastrophically, and it is currently experiencing one of the most critical moments in its history,” this is how the publication assesses the current situation of an independent power.