Thursday April 13, 2023 | 10:30 a.m.
Ukraine is not giving up Crimea and is demanding that Russia withdraw its forces from that and other areas of Ukraine most recently illegally annexed by Moscow, Ukraine’s foreign minister said on Thursday. The minister, Dmytro Kuleba, described the war in Ukraine as “an open wound in the middle of Europe” and said that all of his country’s territory must be treated equally in contacts with the Kremlin, 13 months after the Russian invasion began. large scale.
“We are united by the principles of the United Nations charter and the shared conviction that Crimea is Ukraine and will return to Ukrainian control,” Kuleba said in remarks by video link at a summit in the Romanian capital, Bucharest.
“Every time you hear someone from any corner of the world say that Crimea is special in some way and should not be returned to Ukraine, like any other part of our territory, you should know something: Ukraine strongly disagrees with these statements,” he said in a statement. the Black Sea Security Conference. The Kremlin wants kyiv to recognize Russian sovereignty over Crimea and the annexation last September of the Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhia. Ukraine has rejected those demands and will not enter into talks with Russia until Moscow’s troops withdraw from all occupied territories.
Although there are no signs of possible peace talks, the two countries have sporadically exchanged prisoners of war and are involved in a war deal to export both Ukrainian grain and Russian grain and fertilizer. That agreement has helped ease concerns about the global food supply, especially in countries in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia where many people already go hungry.
But the agreement, negotiated last July by the United Nations and Turkey, is sensitive and Moscow has threatened to end it on several occasions. Russia agreed last month to extend the grain deal for 60 days – instead of the 120 days of the previous extension – as a warning gesture to the West.
In the latest spat, Russia’s foreign ministry said on Thursday there would be no talks on extending the Black Sea grain deal beyond May 18 until progress was made to resolve what it described as “five systemic problems” stemming from it. of the sanctions against Russia for the war.
Those issues, according to a ministry statement, were to reconnect the Russian Agricultural Bank, a state entity, to the SWIFT international banking system; resume supplies, services and parts for agricultural machinery to Russia; lift the restrictions on insurance and reinsurance and the ban on accessing ports; restore the activity of the Tolyatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline, and unblock foreign assets and accounts of Russian companies associated with the production and transportation of food and fertilizers.
Military analysts have indicated that the Ukrainian counter-offensive expected in the coming months could target the land corridor between Russia and Crimea in the hope of dividing Russian forces. That would be a great military challenge. Satellite images show Kremlin forces digging extensive trench networks in the area between Ukraine and the Black Sea peninsula.
In recent months, the fighting has turned into a war of attrition with neither side gaining momentum over the winter, and long-range bombing is often used. At least four civilians have been killed and 11 wounded in fresh Russian shell attacks on civilian infrastructure, the Ukrainian presidential office said on Thursday.
Russian forces had carried out 32 airstrikes, two missile attacks and 40 multiple rocket launcher attacks in the past 24 hours, according to the Ukrainian military.
