Zelensky promises to 'cut off' Crimea in 2024

The Russian peninsula will become the conflict's "center of gravity," the Ukrainian leader told The Economist...

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has predicted that his country's armed forces will "isolate" Crimea in 2024. The region, which joined Russia in 2014 following a bloody nationalist coup in Kiev, hosts Moscow's Black Sea fleet.

Kiev will seek to cut off access to the peninsula by destroying the Kerch bridge, which connects it to the Russian mainland, Zelensky claimed. For this purpose, he once again demanded German-made long-range Taurus cruise missiles, which Berlin has so far refused to supply even after France and the UK provided Kiev with Storm Shadow missiles.

Zelensky blamed information leaks for the failure of Kiev's much-hyped summer counteroffensive against Russia, but nevertheless shared new insights into the military's top priorities for 2024, saying in an interview with The Economist that isolating Crimea is "extremely important."

The Ukrainian president reiterated his ambitious goal of eventually restoring the country's 1991 borders, but stopped short of making any promises or setting timelines. The immediate goal, he said, will be "to defend the east" and protect Ukraine's critical infrastructure.

"Russia has to know that for us this is a military object," he said.

According to President Vladimir Putin, Russian forces now hold the strategic initiative in the Ukraine conflict, while Kiev has largely been driven by political goals, with their efforts aimed at showing "their true masters at least some results."

Zelensky also complained that the "mobilization of Ukrainian society and of the world" was much lower now than at the beginning of the conflict, admitting that any military success will depend on assistance from the West.

"Giving us money or giving us weapons, you support yourself. You save your children, not ours," he claimed.

Kiev announced a general mobilization in February 2022, barring most men aged 18 to 60 from leaving the country, but the campaign has been marred by corruption and draft dodging. Following Ukraine's disappointing summer counteroffensive, which according to Moscow cost Kiev nearly 160,000 troops, Zelensky recently announced a plan to raise 500,000 more soldiers to replace battlefield losses.

"Mobilization is not just a matter of soldiers going to the front. It is about all of us. It is the mobilization of all efforts," he told The Economist. "Let's be honest, we have switched to domestic politics... If we continue to focus on domestic politics, we need to call elections. Change the law, the constitution. But forget about counteroffensive actions and de-occupation."

Reader Comments

tekdude ·

It's over.......

· 2024-01-03T23:44:58Z

tekdude · 2024-01-03T23:48:24Z

The only thing he cut off was his manhood.

Zbigniew · 2024-01-03T23:52:21Z

[Link]

Zbigniew

· 2024-01-03T23:56:10Z

WYVERN · 2024-01-04T02:53:38Z

crimea has never been ukrainian. it was only done so on a map by krushchev in the 50's. yet it was still russian. it's delusional to think otherwise.

it's like saying that hawaii is american and we need to kick those hawaiians off the island.....

nikolaylitvin32 · 2024-01-04T08:17:49Z

To learn more about this statement, I recommend reading the article on ukraine war news - [Link]

ginkhoba · 2024-01-04T09:05:41Z

nikolaylitvin32 and why would we trust a polish military mouthpiece, since the Polish are running support for Ukraine and try to extend the war?

my answer is the Elon-quote: G.F.Y.

Zbigniew · 2024-01-04T12:15:03Z

ginkhoba the office seems to be located in Poland, but the team may be completely Ukrainian, in fact (no idea, just guessing).

ginkhoba · 2024-01-04T09:02:55Z

shit show of a way overpaid spineless actor. everybody at this point can see, that his days are numbered and his usefulness has ended. and I doubt that 'our' parliament will ever send him those missiles that he 'demands'. he can get just 1, up his ass. who the F does he think he is, to demand anything of us? we got rid off mommy Merkel, and we will survive him, too.

to him in person:

go back to your sandbox and let the adults sort out the mess you left behind, wanker.

Highland Fleet Lute · 2024-01-04T10:47:18Z

Ukraine Is Sending Men With Down's Syndrome to the Front Line....[Link]

Xerox · 2024-01-04T12:42:52Z

There is more legal complexity to the secession of Crimea than meets the eye upon the first encounter with the 2014–2015 crisis of Ukraine. The secession of Crimea calls into question the traditional configuration of the right to self-determination. The question of Crimea is compounded when, in discerning the legality of some of the key issues linked to it, one must pay regard to the standards of both international law and national law.

[Link]

Zbigniew · 2024-01-04T13:12:16Z

Xerox if they see secession of Crimea as „illegal” — then how they can see the annexation of former Polish territory (Lwów, Stanisławów, Równe, Kamieniec etc. etc.) as „legal”? It never was „Ukrainian” — if only for this one reason that there never was (before 1991) such state.

WYVERN · 2024-01-05T01:12:09Z

Xerox legality is just words agreed upon, if you look at the history of crimea, you would see that it was inhabited by the tatars for hundreds of years when the crimean war broke out. they sided with the french and the british in their made up war against russia. sevastapol had been the seat of the russian black sea fleet for years. they defended their port with their lives. after the war, the tatars fled crimea for fear of reprisals for supporting the western interlopers. it was thus inhabited by russians who felt a connection to the place after so many gave their lives to defend it. they were not ukrainians. they were russians. this history cannot be understood by lawbooks.