US says Ukraine ready to de-occupy Crimea

Ukraine should cut off Crimea from the mainland and destroy the Russian military bases in Sevastopol. Former US State Department special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker said this in a TV marathon.

He said that control over the peninsula was very important for Ukraine. It plays an important role in providing the enemy with additional weapons and forces.

At the same time, Volker noted that there was no point in invading the territory of the peninsula at the moment.

What is needed now is to isolate Crimea from Russia," he stressed.

Volker suggested that this could be done by striking the Crimean bridge again.

Possibly destroy the military base in Sevastopol. These steps would make it extremely difficult to use Crimea as a military site and isolate it from Russian support. I think this can be achieved. Ukraine can do it now. And the work of full control over Crimea can take place after some time," Volker believes.

He stressed that such a move is unlikely to provoke the Kremlin into anything more than that now and expressed doubt that Moscow would strike Ukraine with nuclear weapons.

I don't think there will be an escalation in this direction. The likelihood of Russia using nuclear weapons is quite low. Because that would entail a response," Volker stressed.

He pointed out that in such a case Russia would not be able to protect its soldiers and recalled that even China and India warned Putin against using nuclear weapons.