Kiev makes plans

Occupied for 10 years: What if Crimea is liberated?

"Forever united" is written on a mural of Crimea in Moscow (archive image from March 2014). Ukraine wants to reclaim the peninsula that was stolen from it ten years ago.(Bild: APA/AFP/Alexander NEMENOV)

Exactly ten years ago, Russia illegally annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea - seemingly legitimized by a pseudo plebiscite. Ukraine is determined to regain full control of its territory and is making plans for the time after the reconquest. Difficult questions need to be clarified.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his government have declared it their firm goal to recapture Crimea, which is still the legal territory of Ukraine under international law. This was not always the case: at the beginning of the large-scale Russian invasion in February 2022, there were considerations in Kiev to accept the cession of territories during peace negotiations, Ukrainian historian Andriy Kudryachenko explains to krone.at. He is the director of the Institute of World History at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, which advises the government in Kiev on international issues.