Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has promised that Kyiv would restore its rule over the Crimea Peninsula after it was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
“To overcome terror, it is necessary to gain victory in the fight against Russian aggression,” he told delegates to the Crimea Platform, an online video conference.
The forum seeks to restore Ukraine’s territorial integrity over the peninsula.
“It is necessary to liberate Crimea. This will be the resuscitation of world law and order,” said Zelenskyy.
Polish President Andrzej Duda, who met Zelenskyy in person, urged other leaders not to turn a blind eye on Russian aggression, or abandon the idea of Ukraine taking back Crimea.
“Crimea was, remains and will be a part of Ukraine just like Gdansk is a part of Poland, Nice is a part of France, Cologne is a part of Germany, and Rotterdam is a part of Netherlands,” Duda said.
Zelenskyy also pledged that any Russian attacks in or around the date of the Ukraine Day of Independence — marking its independence from Soviet rule in 1991 — would be met with a strong response.
Responding to how Ukraine would respond to an attack on Kyiv, Zelenskyy said the response would be the same for any city that comes under attack from Russia.
“They will receive a response, a powerful response,” Zelenskiy said. “I want to say that each day…this response will grow, it will get stronger and stronger.”
Here’s a roundup of some of the other key developments in Ukraine on August 22.
Other leaders vow support for Kyiv’s position
Other Western leaders who took part in the Crimea Platform virtually said they supported Ukraine in its will not to concede any territory lost to Russia since 2014.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Western leaders “condemn Russia’s attempts to forcefully integrate parts of Ukrainian territory. Any sham referenda or other attempts to alter the status of parts of Ukrainian territory will never be recognized.”
“Such steps preclude any negotiations,” Scholz said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the conference that, since February, Moscow has been using Crimea as a staging post for attacks on Ukraine as well as “a testing ground for the brutal methods Russia is now applying across the other occupied parts of Ukraine.”
Six months after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron used the forum to vow that the EU’s support for Ukraine would continue.
“Our determination has not changed and we are ready to maintain this effort for the long term,” Macron told participants.
“This destabilization of the international order and the disruptions that have followed, on the humanitarian level, in terms of energy and food, are the consequences of the choice made by Russia and Russia alone to attack Ukraine on February 24,” he said.
“Against this there can be no weakness, no spirit of compromise, because it’s a matter of our freedom, for everyone, and of peace everywhere around the world,” he added.
Western allies of Ukraine have supplied Kyiv with billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment and other aid.
However, they are wary of becoming embroiled in a direct fight against Russian forces that now occupy large swaths of Ukraine’s east and south.
Ukraine eyes quiet independence day
Officials in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, have banned public celebrations commemorating independence from Soviet rule, citing a raised threat of Russian attack in the war.
The decision comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Moscow could try “something particularly ugly” ahead of the day.
Other cities have also restricted public gatherings. In the second city of Kharkiv, a northeastern city which has been under frequent and deadly long-range artillery and rocket fire, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said an extended overnight curfew would run from 4 p.m. to 7 a.m. — effective from Tuesday to Thursday.
In the port of Mykolaiv, which is close to Russian-held territory in the south, regional governor Vitaliy Kim said there would be a precautionary order for residents to work from home on Tuesday and Wednesday.
He also urged people not to gather in large groups.
Fears of intensified attacks have risen after Russia’s FSB intelligence service accused Ukrainian agents of killing Darya Dugina, the daughter of a Russian ultra-nationalist ideologue, in a car-bombing near Moscow near Moscow.
The US embassy in Kyiv has warned that Russia is planning to strike Ukrainian civilian infrastructure in the coming days.
“If you hear a loud explosion or if sirens are activated, immediately seek cover,” the US State Department said in its alert.
“If in a home or a building, go to the lowest level of the structure with the fewest exterior walls, windows, and openings; close any doors and sit near an interior wall, away from any windows or openings.”
The UN said on Monday has Russia’s war has killed nearly 5,600 civilians, including many children.
Lithuania floats regional ban on Russian visas
European Unions members Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Finland — all of which have a border with Russia — may stop Russian tourists from entering their countries if there is no European Union-wide ban, according to Lithuania’s top diplomat.
“I have talked to ministers from all these countries… I don’t see many differences politically,” said Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis.
“Russian tourists shouldn’t be in the European Union… Their country is undertaking genocide,” he added.
Finland and Estonia have been pushing the plan but German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the European Commission are so far against the proposal.
UN rights office says Mariupol POW trial unacceptable
The UN rights office says plans by Russian-backed authorities to try Ukrainian prisoners of war in Mariupol, possibly within days, could amount to a war crime.
“We are very concerned about the manner in which this is being done. There are pictures in the media of cages being built in Mariupol’s philharmonic hall, really massive cages and apparently the idea is to restrain the prisoners,” Ravina Shamdasani told a UN briefing.
“This is not acceptable, this is humiliating,” she said.
Shamdasani added that willfully depriving a prisoner of war to the right to a fair trial amounts to a war crime by Russia.
More artillery strikes near nuclear plant
Ukraine’s General Staff says Russia has carried out artillery and air strikes in the Zaporizhzhia region — where fighting near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant has raised fears of a disastrous nuclear incident.
With its six reactors and a net output of 5,700 megawatts, Zaporizhzhya — which is under Russian occupation and is being used a base for strikes — is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
Meanwhile, the General Staff tweeted to mark a separate event to the Independence Day o Ukraine. August 23 is the the Day of the National Flag of Ukraine.
The General Staff said the flag would lead the country to victory and “will forever wave over a sovereign, integral, indivisible, independent, inviolable, independent, democratic, equal Ukraine within its internationally recognized state borders!”
Polish president arrives in Kyiv
Th office of Polish President Andrzej Duda confirmed his arrival in Kyiv, to discuss further support for Ukraine — including military aid.
“The visit will include a meeting with president Zelenskiy and talks on military support and defence of Ukraine in the economic, humanitarian and political sense,” the head of Duda’s office, Pawel Szrot, told reporters.
Szrot said that Duda would join Zelensky in online discussions in the context of the Crimea Platform,
a diplomatic initiative set up by Ukraine in August last year aimed at reversing Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Black Sea peninsula.
Ukraine hopes to use the platform’s second meeting to garner support for recovering the Crimean Peninsula.
Other prominent leaders joining the discussions are German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg.
More on the war in Ukraine
Ukraine’s central bank has been de facto printing money to pay its troops, but the measure is unsustainable. More international support is vital, but how much new cash could be raised domestically?
Shunned by the international community, Moscow and Pyongyang see benefits in collaborating on laborers and trade. Russia has also started to support the North in the United Nations.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his deputy Robert Habeck embarked on a three-day visit seeking to sign a hydrogen production deal with Canada and foster new energy ties amid Russia’s invasion.
The State Department has warned of an imminent Russian attack on Ukraine’s infrastructure, while Moscow has blamed Kyiv for the killing of Russian nationalist Daria Dugina. More from Monday’s updates.
rc/jcg (dpa, AFP, AP, Reuters)
Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/russia-ukraine-updates-kyiv-hosts-forum-on-crimea-liberation/a-62895482?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf