OREANDA-NEWS. President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky believes that the United States can help Kiev in the situation around Crimea. He stated this in an interview published on Monday in the Polish media. "I think that the United States could help in the matter with Crimea. There could be such a format for negotiations: Ukraine, Russia, the USA", the president said.

“I’ll ask at the summit [December 9] whether we can talk about Crimea in this circle. If not, I would like for us to agree on some other format,” Zelensky added. "This is our territory, and I would like it to return to us", he said. After the coup in Ukraine in February 2014 and the removal from power of President Viktor Yanukovych, mass protests began in the Crimea and in the east of the country, where the Russian-speaking population predominates.

The authorities of Crimea and Sevastopol decided to hold a referendum on reunification with Russia. More than 80% of eligible voters took part in it, 96.7% and 95.6% of citizens respectively voted for reunification with the Russian Federation, and already in March, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an agreement on the admission of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol to the Russian Federation. Kiev refused to recognize Crimea as part of Russia, despite the convincing results of the referendum.