KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed on Wednesday to end Russia’s occupation of the Crimea peninsula and all other areas that Moscow controls in his country.
Russia seized and annexed Crimea in 2014 in a move not recognized by most other countries, and has occupied other parts of Ukraine since its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Kyiv has begun a counteroffensive to try to regain the lost land.
“Crimea will be de-occupied like all other parts of Ukraine that are unfortunately still under the occupier,” Zelensky told an international conference on Crimea in which he said representatives of more than 60 countries and international organizations were participating.
He said Ukrainian troops were moving ahead in the counteroffensive launched by Kyiv in early June, but gave no details. He set no time frame for Ukraine to regain control of Crimea.
Russia shows no sign of abandoning Crimea, which it has used as a platform to launch missile strikes on Ukrainian targets. Moscow says a referendum held after Russian forces seized the peninsula showed Crimeans genuinely want to be part of Russia. The referendum is not recognized by most countries.
Participants at the Crimea Platform conference heard speeches delivered by video by foreign leaders including Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and French President Francois Macron.
Erdogan reiterated that Ankara does not recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea and supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity. He said Turkiye was working hard to keep communication lines open in the hope that a “fair and durable” peace could be agreed.
Zelensky said that when Crimea was back under Ukrainian control, it would be part of Ukraine’s economy and therefore part of the global economy.
“Today we are taking the first such economic step. We are signing the first document with companies that are ready to enter Crimea following Ukraine,” he said.
He gave no details of the document but named several companies that he said were ready to invest in Crimea following after the end of Russian control, including Ryanair, Vodafone, Nokia and EPAM.
Zelensky says Ukraine will end Russian occupation of Crimea
https://arab.news/8a2cw
Zelensky says Ukraine will end Russian occupation of Crimea
- “Crimea will be de-occupied like all other parts of Ukraine that are unfortunately still under the occupier,” Zelensky told an international conference on Crimea
- He set no time frame for Ukraine to regain control of Crimea
Ethiopia’s prime minister accuses Eritrea of mass killings during Tigray war
- Landlocked Ethiopia says that Eritrea is arming rebel groups, while Eritrea says Ethiopia’s aspiration is to gain access to a seaport
- Ethiopia lost sovereign access to the Red Sea when Eritrea seceded in 1993 after decades of guerrilla warfare
ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia’s government Tuesday for the first time acknowledged the involvement of troops from neighboring Eritrea in the war in the Tigray region that ended in 2022, accusing them of mass killings, amid reports of renewed fighting in the region.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, while addressing parliament Tuesday, accused Eritrean troops fighting alongside Ethiopian forces of mass killings in the war, during which more than 400,000 people are estimated to have died.
Eritrean and Ethiopian troops fought against regional forces in the northern Tigray region in a war that ended in 2022 with the signing of a peace agreement.
Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel told The Associated Press that Ahmed’s comments were “cheap and despicable lies” and did not merit a response.
Both nations have been accusing each other of provoking a potential civil war, with landlocked Ethiopia saying that Eritrea is arming and funding rebel groups, while Eritrea says Ethiopia’s aspiration is to gain access to a seaport.
“The rift did not begin with the Red Sea issue, as many people think,” Ahmed told parliamentarians. “It started in the first round of the war in Tigray, when the Eritrean army followed us into Shire and began demolishing houses, massacred our youth in Axum, looted factories in Adwa, and uprooted our factories.”
“The Red Sea and Ethiopia cannot remain separated forever,” he added.
Ethiopia lost sovereign access to the Red Sea when Eritrea seceded in 1993 after decades of guerrilla warfare.
Gebremeskel said the prime minister has only recently changed his tune in his push for access to the Red Sea.
Ahmed “and his top military brass were profusely showering praises and State Medals on the Eritrea army and its senior officers. … But when he later developed the delusional malaise of ‘sovereignty access to the sea’ and an agenda of war against Eritrea, he began to sing to a different chorus,” he said.
Eritrea and Ethiopia initially made peace after Abiy came to power in 2018, with Abiy winning a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts toward reconciliation.
In June, Eritrea accused Ethiopia of having a “long-brewing war agenda” aimed at seizing its Red Sea ports. Ethiopia recently said that Eritrea was “actively preparing to wage war against it.”
Analysts say an alliance between Eritrea and regional forces in the troubled Tigray region may be forming, as fighting has been reported in recent weeks. Flights by the national carrier to the region were canceled last week over the renewed clashes.
