“If we succeed in achieving our strategic goals on the battlefield and when we are on the administrative border with Crimea, we will be ready to open a diplomatic chapter and discuss this issue,” Sepiha, of the Ukrainian presidential office, told the newspaper. financial times.

“This does not mean that we rule out the liberation of (Crimea) by our army,” the diplomat added. The front line now runs through the Kherson region in southern Ukraine and is about 150 kilometers from the northern tip of the peninsula.

Ukraine has repeatedly declared that it is preparing to launch a counteroffensive in the spring. Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said last week that the counter-offensive could begin in April or May, depending on the weather.

The newspaper quoted military experts as saying that he did not specify which area the Ukrainian counterattack would focus on Washington Post However, the Russians are concerned about the fate of Crimea and are building an extensive network of fortifications on it.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has emphasized several times in the past that Kyiv’s goal is to regain control over all of Ukraine’s territory, including Crimea. Sepha’s comments may come as a relief to Western officials who doubt that Ukraine can regain the peninsula and fear an escalation of the conflict by Russia.