“Illusion of Russian sovereignty over Crimea and Black Sea dispelled,” says Zelensky

The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky will maintain military pressure in Russian-held Crimea, he said today via video link at a security conference in Prague that has been marred by technical problems and a possible hacker attack. Kiev has stepped up strikes against Russian forces in the Black Sea and Crimea, which Moscow seized and annexed in 2014, as Ukrainian forces continue their nearly five-month-old counteroffensive.

In his speech, which was marred by technical problems as his voice occasionally changed and sounded more shrill, Zelensky stated that the “illusion” of Russian sovereignty in Crimea and the Black Sea was dispelled. “The Russian fleet (in the Black Sea) is no longer able to operate in the western part of the Black Sea and is gradually withdrawing from Crimea. And this is a historic achievement,” said Zelensky.

The Ukrainian attacks within it Crimea and around it include a strike on a Russian air base on the peninsula, on the headquarters of the Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol and on the only bridge connecting Crimea with Russia, as reported by APE-MPE. “We have not yet secured full fire control in Crimea and the surrounding waters but we will. It’s a matter of time,” Zelensky said at a meeting of the Crimean Platform, a diplomatic initiative he launched in 2021.

A spokesman for the speaker of the Czech parliament said the website for the event, which was attended by parliamentarians from various countries, had been “hacked” but did not say by whom. On the other hand, a spokesman for Zelenskiy said there was a technical problem but did not refer to the apparent alteration of the tone of his voice, with a representative of the Czech parliament claiming it was simply the result of a “bad connection”.