President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in his Twitter thanked the American leader Joseph Biden for the statement about Crimea, in which the head of the White House promised never to recognize the republic as the territory of Russia.
According to him, Biden sent a “strong message” on the situation around Crimea. Also, the Ukrainian president said that this is what “real strategic partnership” is needed.
Zelenskiy added that the Ukrainian people highly value American support, from territorial integrity to strengthening defense capabilities and implementing reforms.
Earlier on February 26, the White House website published a statement by US President Joe Biden that Washington would never recognize Crimea as Russian. The United States will continue to work to bring Russia to justice “for its abuses and aggression in Ukraine,” the document says.
As Biden believes, Russia seven years ago “violated international law, the norms by which modern countries interact with each other, as well as the sovereignty and territorial integrity of neighboring Ukraine” by joining the peninsula.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a statement on Friday in which he said that in order to end the hatred between Ukrainians and Russians, Russia must return Crimea, which was the “heart of Ukraine.”
On the same day, State Duma deputy from Crimea Ruslan Balbek criticized Zelensky’s decree on measures to “de-occupy” Crimea in an interview with Izvestia. According to him, Zelensky signs documents in front of the Western community about alleged preferences for Crimeans, but it looks like a Jesuit trick.
Crimea became part of Russia following the 2014 referendum. 96.77% of the region’s residents and 95.6% of the voters of Sevastopol supported the accession. The procedure, as the Russian authorities have repeatedly stated, took place in strict accordance with international law. However, Kiev still considers the peninsula to be its temporarily occupied territory. Moscow argued that the issue of the subject’s ownership was closed forever.