OREANDA-NEWS. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky admitted that Kiev will not be able to return Crimea in the near future.

He stated this during a speech at the Age of Crimea forum, adding that nowadays all the efforts of Ukraine are aimed at achieving peace in the Donbass. “But this does not mean that Crimea is being removed from the agenda or will be able to become the price of peace in the Donbass… We will do our best to make the Ukrainian flag fly over Crimea. This is a difficult task that cannot be achieved tomorrow, but there are things that we must do today,” Zelensky said.

First of all, among such tasks, he named the support of Ukrainian citizens living on the peninsula or having Crimean registration. “Many of them are waiting for the return of Crimea to Ukraine. The mere fact, that they don’t say it out loud, doesn’t mean that they don’t exist. And they should know that the nation has not forgotten about them,” Ukrainian leader said. He emphasized that the previous authorities of the country did not care about Crimean residents, and they faced discrimination. Zelensky called it unacceptable. Among the tasks, he also named the arrangement of checkpoints on the border with Crimea so that entering people could see “a comfortable and safe Ukraine.”