Ukraine insists that Crimea not be officially recognized as Russian – media
Kyiv responded to the so-called "peace plan" of US President Donald Trump with seven points, the center of which is the insistence that the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russian troops in 2014, not be officially recognized as Russian, writes The Telegraph.
“Details of a five-point set of demands from Kyiv have been shared with The Telegraph, revealing major differences still remain with America’s seven-point plan, which emerged this week… A dossier on the demands, seen by The Telegraph, makes it clear that Ukraine hopes to effectively strip out any formal international recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea or other occupied territories,” the publication writes.
Points one and two focus on framing any peace deal as “rooted in international law, not capitulation”, with a specific warning over China’s possible invasion of Taiwan. They also stress the importance of clear “security guarantees” as the price for any prospective peace agreement that would see Ukraine cede territory to Russia, even on a temporary basis.
Point three is an attempt to wrestle back control of the negotiations from Mr Trump and put Ukraine back at the heart of the peace process. A fourth point serves as a warning to both the US and Nato that allowing Russia’s control over Crimea enables it to threaten not only attacks on Ukraine but also Black Sea allies Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria.
The fifth and final point makes it clear that Russia should not be allowed to use the deal to limit the size of Ukraine’s armed forces or defence industrial base.