Kyiv would be willing to discuss the future of Crimea if its forces are successful in a counter-offensive, a senior advisor to President Zelensky has said.
The deputy head of Zelensky’s office Andriy Sybiha suggested talks could open with Moscow if Ukraine’s forces reach the border of the Russian-occupied peninsula in its planned counter-offensive.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Mr Sybiha said: “If we will succeed in achieving our strategic goals on the battlefield and when we will be on the administrative border with Crimea, we are ready to open [a] diplomatic page to discuss this issue.
He added: “It doesn’t mean that we exclude the way of liberation [of Crimea] by our army.”
It is among the most explicit suggestion of negotiation since Ukraine cut off talks last April after Russia’s invasion.
Mr Zelensky has previously said that Ukraine wants to liberate all of its occupied territory, including Crimea, which was occupied by Russia in 2014 and later annexed.
Some Western officials have doubts that Ukraine could successfully retake the peninsula, and that an attempt to try could escalate the war.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month when asked about Crimea that “there’s going to be territory in Ukraine that the Ukrainians are determined to fight for on the ground; there may be territory that they decide that they’ll have to try to get back in other ways.”
It comes as British officials said Thursday it was “highly likely” Putin had dismissed one of his top generals over the stalling invasion of Ukraine.
In its daily intelligence update, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said Colonel-General Rustam Muradov had probably been dismissed as commander of Russia’s Eastern Group of Forces.
The departure would be one of the most senior in the Russian forces of 2023 so far.
“Muradov took over the EGF after its disastrous attempt to assault Kyiv from the north-west during the initial full-scale invasion,” said the MoD in its latest intelligence update.
“He is the most senior Russian military dismissal of 2023 so far, but more are likely as Russia continues to fail to achieve its objectives in the Donbas.”
Russian forces have suffered heavy losses in their bid to seize the town of Bakhmut, also in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, which has been at the centre of intense fighting for months.
Ukraine’s President Zelensky has insisted Russian forces are not in control of Bakhmut but said Kyiv faced a difficult situation in defending the war-torn town.
“We are in Bakhmut and the enemy does not control it,” he said.
Ukrainian military commanders have stressed the importance of holding Bakhmut and other cities and inflicting losses on Russian troops before the anticipated counter-offensive.
