The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov has recently described “12 Steps to De-occupy Crimea.”
In his plan, Danilov listed:
- the future appearance in Crimea of the monument “Russian warship going to *** yourself”,
- criminal prosecution for collaboration and treason, lustration in Crimea,
- deprivation of pensions of Russian civil servants in Crimea who are not subject to criminal prosecution,
- extradition by Russia or its successor to Ukraine of Ukrainian citizens suspected of treason, as well as Russian citizens suspected of war crimes,
- criminal prosecution of Russian propagandists,
- eviction from Crimea of Russian citizens who arrived there after the occupation in 2014,
- invalidation of Russian legislation in Crimea adopted after February 2014,
- dismantling the Kerch Bridge,
- Involvement of convicted pro-Russian citizens in public works to restore Ukraine,
- creating a documentary base of facts of Russia’s crimes against Ukrainian citizens, restoring the rights of Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar activists,
- immediate release of all Ukrainian citizens persecuted by Russia for political reasons since 2014 with compensation for moral damage,
- renaming Sevastopol with the temporary name “Object No. 6”.
On March 24, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said that an offensive by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Crimea would be grounds for Russia to use nuclear weapons.
In response, the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that the occupied Crimea should be de-occupied by returning the “legitimate Ukrainian authorities” there.
Former U.S. Army Europe Commander Ben Hodges said that Ukraine would liberate Crimea by the end of summer 2023.
At the same time, on January 20, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley said that “from a military standpoint, it will be very difficult to remove Russian troops from every inch of the Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine this year.”
