The Ukrainian leader has told Fox News that regaining the Russian peninsula is not now a priority
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has said he is not currently aiming to regain control of Crimea, but suggested the issue could be revisited later.
He made the remarks in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, who asked whether the peninsula, which joined Russia in 2014, was “back on the table” amid Kiev’s refusal to make territorial concessions.
“It’s a pity. No. Or not yet. We will see, I don’t know,” Zelensky replied. He said Crimea remained “very important” to Ukraine but suggested that “not losing people” was the more immediate priority.
Prior to this shift in tone, Zelensky had for years insisted that Kiev would eventually reclaim all territories within Ukraine’s 1991 borders, including Crimea. He had previously stated that this was “only a matter of time,” while also acknowledging that Ukraine currently lacks the troops, weapons and resources to achieve that goal without suffering enormous losses.
Crimea broke away from Ukraine following the Western-backed Maidan coup in 2014 and subsequently voted in a public referendum to join Russia. Kiev and its Western backers have refused to recognize the results of the referendum.
Moscow has repeatedly said the peninsula is sovereign Russian territory and that its status is not subject to negotiation, rejecting Kiev’s territorial claims.
Sergey Tsekov, first deputy chairman of Crimea’s State Council, described Zelensky’s latest remarks as “a step in the right direction” but dismissed his continued description of the peninsula as Ukrainian territory as “demented,” arguing it never legally belonged to Kiev in the first place.
In 2022, the Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) People’s Republics, along with Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions, were also incorporated into Russia following referendums in which the overwhelming majority of the regions’ populations supported the move.
Russia has insisted that any settlement of the Ukraine conflict must recognize the new territorial realities on the ground, including Crimea and the four former Ukrainian regions.
