Posted on Facebook this past Sunday, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council secretary Oleksiy Danilov listed Kyiv’s 12-point plan to recapture Crimea and drive Russia out of its main port in Sevastopol on the Black Sea that it has had for the past 200 years.

And besides blowing up the Kerch Strait Bridge that connects Crimea with Russia, the reoccupation plan calls for expelling all Russian citizens who came to Crimea after 2014… where some 96 percent of the citizens voted to align with Russia. Indeed, as posted on Wikipedia: “97 percent voted for integration of the region into the Russian Federation, with an 83 percent voter turnout, and from Sevastopol there was also a 97 percent vote for integration with Russia, with an 89 percent voter turnout.”

Besides taking back Crimea, the 12-point plan includes taking back all the land that Russia has captured since they invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Showing that it is action and not just talk, two Ukrainian drones smashed into oil tanks at a depot in Crimea, sparking a major fire and increasing tension before a reported counteroffensive to boot Russians out of the country. 

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, said the fire at the depot on Kazachya Bay—which sent thick plumes of smoke into the air—has been contained. The Associated Press noted that the drone attack came a day after Russia unleashed more than 20 cruise missiles and drones into Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces announced on Sunday that the attack on the depot was “carried out by Ukrainian forces “in preparation for the broad, full-scale offensive that everyone expects.”

Natalia Humeniuk, a spokeswoman from Ukraine, called the attack a success and said the “enemy’s logistics were undermined,” according to Newsweek. She said Russian officials in the region are now trying “to evacuate their families and leave Crimea themselves.”

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence said the fire seemed like “God’s punishment” for the Russian strikes on the Ukrainian city of Uman that resulted in at least 23 dead. 

“This punishment will be long-lasting,” Andrii Yusov told Ukrainian media, CNN reported. The report said Yusov told Crimean residents to make sure they stay away from military facilities. 

Kyiv has been targeting Crimea in recent weeks with dozens of attacks, Razvozhayev said. He noted that Russians intercepted a sea drone earlier last week that was headed for the harbor.  

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has identified Crimea as his army’s main goal and vowed to reclaim the peninsula. 

He repeated the vow last week and said Kyiv wants to take back the peninsula during its counteroffensive. (See “RAMPING UP WAR, UKRAINIAN ATTACKS RUSSIAN BASE IN CRIMEA” 4 Apr 2023, “ARROGANT WARMONGERING MILITARY OFFICERS OFFER ADVICE ON HOW TO RETAKE CRIMEA, DESTROY RUSSIA” 7 Mar 2023, and “TARGET CRIMEA: ZELENSKY READY TO CROSS THE RED LINE” 28 Feb 2023.)

Russia has warned Ukraine against trying to take the peninsula, which is home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol and said any major attack would be interpreted as an attack on Russia and Moscow would respond “using weapons of any kind.”

TRENDPOST: We remind our readers that, unlike the propaganda you read in the mainstream media, Russia did not attack Crimea in 2014. 

The Russian military already had a presence there for some 200 years. Under a lease agreement (which did not expire until 2047), negotiated when Russia granted independence to Ukraine, its Black Sea Fleet is based at Sevastopol port in Crimea.

Furthermore, Crimea would likely still be a part of Ukraine if the U.S. had not orchestrated a coup to overthrow the government of the democratically elected president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych. (See “WASHINGTON IS DRIVING THE WORLD TO THE FINAL WAR,” 28 Apr 2014.)

It was Crimean who voted overwhelmingly—by 97 percent—to rejoin Russia, but it is internationally recognized as Ukrainian territory. The Kremlin sees Crimea as theirs.

Crimea had been part of Ukraine only since 1954, when Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, a Ukrainian, designated it as such. In fact, Crimea has been part of Russia longer than the United States has been a country.