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A top Ukrainian official has outlined a series of steps the government in Kyiv would take if the country reclaims control of Crimea, including dismantling the strategic bridge that links the seized Black Sea peninsula to Russia.
Key points:
- Oleksiy Danilov has published a plan for the Ukrainian government if it takes back control of Crimea
- The plan includes dismantling the Kerch bridge and prosecuting Ukrainians who worked for the Moscow-approved administration
- Ukraine is preparing to launch a counteroffensive, in a bid to turn the tide of the conflict and push back Russia's invasion
Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, published the plan as Ukraine's military prepares for a spring counteroffensive in hopes of making new, decisive gains after more than 13 months of war to end Russia's full-scale invasion.
Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, but most of the world does not recognise it as Russian territory. The peninsula's future status will be a key feature in any negotiations on ending the current fighting.
The Kremlin has demanded that Ukraine recognise Russia's sovereignty over Crimea and acknowledge other land gains made by Moscow as a condition for peace.
Kyiv, however, has ruled out any peace talks with Moscow until Russian troops leave all occupied territories, including Crimea.
Mr Danilov suggested prosecuting Ukrainians who worked for the Moscow-appointed administration in Crimea, adding that some would face criminal charges and others would lose government pensions or be banned from public jobs.
All Russian citizens who moved to Crimea after 2014 should be expelled, and all real estate deals made under Russian rule nullified, he wrote on Facebook.
As part of the plan, Mr Danilov also called for dismantling a 19-kilometre bridge that Russia had built to Crimea. A truck bomb severely damaged the bridge, Europe's longest, in October. Moscow blamed Ukrainian military intelligence for the attack.
Ukraine did not claim responsibility for the bomb, but Ukrainian officials had repeatedly threatened to strike the bridge in the past.
Russia has since repaired the damaged section of the bridge and restored the flow of supplies to Crimea, which has served as a key hub for the Russian military during the war.
Mr Danilov also argued for renaming the city of Sevastopol, which has been the main base for the Russian Black Sea Fleet since the 19th century.
He said it could be called "Object Number 6" until the Ukrainian parliament chooses another name, suggesting Akhtiar, after a village that once stood where the city is now.
The Moscow-appointed head of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, shrugged off Mr Danilov's plan as "sick".
"It would be wrong to seriously treat comments by sick people. They must be cured, and that's what our military is doing now
Ukraine prepares for counteroffensive
Mr Danilov published his plan as Ukrainian troops prepared to use newly supplied Western weapons, including dozens of battle tanks, to break through Russian defences and reclaim occupied areas in a counteroffensive expected as early as this month.
Russian troops are trying to capture the key Ukrainian stronghold of Bakhmut as part of their efforts to take all of Donetsk province, which is part of Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland of the Donbas.
The eight-month campaign for Bakhmut is the longest and potentially deadliest battle of the war.
At least three civilians were killed and six wounded in Russian shelling of Kostiantynivka, in eastern Ukraine, on Sunday morning, a senior Ukrainian official said.
Kostiantynivka, home to about 70,000 people before the war, is just 20 kilometres west of Bakhmut.
The war, which is now in its 14th month, has brought entire cities to ruins and killed tens of thousands.
Ukraine's sports minister, Vadym Huttsait, on Sunday said that death toll includes 262 Ukrainian athletes, reaffirming Kyiv's call to bar Russia from the Olympics.
Vitalii Merinov, a four-time world kickboxing champion, died Friday of wounds sustained in action fighting for Ukraine, according to the mayor of the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk.
AP/Reuters