U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said this during an online discussion organized by the Carnegie Endowment on Thursday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.
"I’m not going to prejudge where the Ukrainians choose to fight or how they choose to deal with Crimea over the short term, medium term, or long term. We recognize Crimea as Ukraine," the U.S. Under Secretary of State said.
She noted that when the Russian occupation authorities captured Crimea, they immediately resorted to massive human rights abuses, persecution of Crimean Tatars and other people who did not agree with the occupation. In addition, Russia turned the peninsula into a massive military installation, which was used for a large-scale offensive on the rest of Ukraine.
Therefore, according to Nuland, the Russian military bases in Crimea should be considered legitimate targets for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“Those [Russia’s military installations in Crimea] are legitimate targets, Ukraine is hitting them, and we are supporting that,” the official said.
At the same time, Nuland noted that Ukraine will not be safe unless Crimea is at a minimum demilitarized.
In addition, the U.S. Under Secretary of State noted that Washington is considering the possibility of supplying Ukraine with not only the weapons needed on the battlefield for victory now but also for further deterrence of the Russian Federation after the war ends.
