Russia’s unlawful seizure of Crimea from Ukraine 11 years in the past was fast and cold. However Kyiv — and a lot of the world — by no means acknowledged Moscow’s annexation of the strategic peninsula, which is now a serious focus of U.S.-led efforts to finish Russia’s battle in Ukraine.
U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out at Ukraine’s president Wednesday, accusing Volodymyr Zelenskyy of prolonging the “killing field” after he insisted he wouldn’t hand over any Ukrainian territory, together with Crimea, to Russia as a part of a possible peace plan.
“There is nothing to talk about. It is our land, the land of the Ukrainian people,” he mentioned.
Trump known as Zelenskyy’s pushback “very harmful” to talks.
“Nobody is asking Zelenskyy to recognize Crimea as Russian Territory but, if he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it eleven years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired?” he wrote on social media.
Throughout Trump’s first time period, the U.S. mentioned it could by no means acknowledge Crimea as Russian.
How did Russia seize Crimea?
In 2013-14, an enormous fashionable rebellion gripped Ukraine for weeks, finally forcing pro-Moscow President Victor Yanukovich from workplace.
With Ukraine engulfed in turmoil, Russian President Vladimir Putin pounced, sending troops to overrun Crimea, a diamond-shaped peninsula within the Black Sea that Russia has lengthy coveted.
The armed troops appeared in Crimea in uniforms with out insignia, and Putin quickly known as a vote on becoming a member of Russia that Ukraine and the West dismissed as unlawful.
Russia’s relations with the West plummeted to new lows. The US, the European Union and different international locations imposed sanctions on Moscow and its officers.
Moscow’s unlawful annexation of Crimea on March 18, 2014, was solely acknowledged internationally by international locations akin to North Korea and Sudan. In Russia, it touched off a wave of patriotism, and “Krym nash!” — “Crimea is ours!” — turned a rallying cry.
The transfer despatched Putin’s recognition hovering. His approval ranking, which had declined to 65% in January 2014, shot to 86% in June, in accordance with the Levada Heart, an impartial Russian pollster.
Putin has known as Crimea “a sacred place,” and has prosecuted those that publicly argue it’s a part of Ukraine — significantly Crimean Tatars, who strongly opposed the annexation.
What occurred after the annexation?
Weeks after the annexation, combating broke out in japanese Ukraine between pro-Kremlin militias and Kyiv’s forces. Moscow threw its weight behind the insurgents, regardless that the Kremlin denied supporting them with troops and weapons. There was ample proof on the contrary, together with a Dutch court docket’s discovering {that a} Russia-supplied air protection system shot down a Malaysia Airways passenger jet over japanese Ukraine in July 2014, killing all 298 folks aboard.
Russian hard-liners later criticized Putin for failing to seize all of Ukraine that yr, arguing it was simply attainable at a time when the federal government in Kyiv was in disarray and its navy in shambles.
The combating in japanese Ukraine continued, on and off, till February 2022, when Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Why is Crimea necessary?
Crimea’s distinctive location makes it a strategically necessary asset, and Russia has spent centuries combating for it.
The peninsula was house to Turkic-speaking Tatars when the Russian empire first annexed it within the 18th century. It briefly regained independence two centuries later earlier than being swallowed by the Soviet Union.
Soviet chief Nikita Khrushchev transferred Crimea from Russia to Ukraine in 1954, when each had been a part of the united states, to commemorate the three hundredth anniversary of the unification of Moscow and Kyiv. In 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed, the peninsula turned a part of newly impartial Ukraine.
Russia saved a foot within the door, nevertheless: Its Black Sea Fleet had a base within the metropolis of Sevastopol, and Crimea — as a part of Ukraine — continued to host it.
By the point Russia annexed it in 2014, it had been part of Ukraine for 60 years and had change into a part of the nation’s id.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to retake it and mentioned that Russia “won’t be able to steal” the peninsula.
For both aspect, possession of Crimea is vital to regulate over actions within the Black Sea — a vital hall for the world’s grain, amongst different items.
What position does Crimea play in Russia’s battle in Ukraine?
Forward of its full-scale invasion, Moscow deployed troops and weapons to Crimea, permitting Russian forces to shortly seize giant components of southern Ukraine within the first weeks of the battle.
A prime Russian navy official later mentioned that securing a land hall from Russia to Crimea by holding the occupied components of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson areas was among the many key targets of what the Kremlin insisted on calling its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Earlier than the invasion, Zelenskyy targeted on diplomatic efforts to get Crimea again, however after Russian troops poured throughout the border, Kyiv began publicly considering retaking the peninsula by power.
The peninsula quickly turned a battleground, with Ukraine launching drone assaults and bombing it to attempt to dislodge Moscow’s maintain on the territory.
The assaults focused the Russian Black Sea Fleet there, in addition to ammunition depots, air fields and Putin’s prized asset — the Kerch Bridge linking Crimea to Russia, which was struck in October 2022 and once more in July 2023.
How does Crimea issue into peace efforts?
U.S. Vice President JD Vance mentioned this week that Washington “issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say ‘yes’ or for the United States to walk away from this process.”
He advised reporters throughout a go to to India that it was “a very fair proposal” that will “freeze the territorial lines at some level close to where they are today,” although either side must hand over some territory they presently maintain. He didn’t present particulars.
Whereas Trump mentioned that “nobody” is asking Ukraine to acknowledge Crimea as Russian territory, it’s not clear whether or not the U.S. proposal would see Washington acknowledge it as such — in what could be a reversal of years of its personal international coverage.
In 2017, Trump’s then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared at a gathering additionally attended by Russia’s prime diplomat: “We will never accept Russia’s occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea.” The next yr, his successor, Mike Pompeo, reiterated that the U.S. rejected the tried annexation.
Zelenskyy on Wednesday identified Pompeo’s assertion in a submit on X, including: “We are absolutely sure that our partners in particular the USA will act in line with its strong decisions.”
Putin, nevertheless, listed Ukraine’s recognition of Crimea as a part of Russia amongst Moscow’s calls for for peace in June 2024. These additionally embody Ukraine ceding 4 areas Russia illegally annexed in 2022, dropping its bid to hitch NATO, retaining the nation’s nonnuclear standing, limiting its navy power and defending the pursuits of the Russian-speaking inhabitants.
Kyiv has rejected ceding territory as a nonstarter.
Russia presently holds roughly 20% of Ukrainian land, together with Crimea, so any deal that freezes the traces roughly the place they’re would profit Moscow.
