We cannot lose tens of thousands of our people for sake of returning Crimea – Zelenskyy

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that the temporarily occupied Crimea can be returned through diplomatic channels. Tens of thousands of people should not die for the sake of de-occupation of the peninsula.

Zelenskyy said this during an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, November 20.

Fox News' chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst asked the President of Ukraine whether he was ready to give up Crimea in order to stop the war and bloodshed in Europe. Yingst recalled the words of russian dictator putin, who stated that "Crimea will never return to Ukrainian hands".

"I was already mentioning that we are ready to bring Crimea back diplomatically," Zelenskyy said. "We cannot spend dozens of thousands of our people so that they perish for the sake of Crimea coming back... we understand that Crimea can be brought back diplomatically," Zelenskyy said.

In addition, the head of state emphasized that no occupied territory will be recognized as russian, legally Ukraine does not accept this.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on February 26, Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Dmytro Klimenkov stated that restoring control over Crimea is a strategic task for Ukraine.

At the end of August, it became known that the russians had transferred their most modern S-500 air defense systems to Crimea.

Recall that in the summer, the russians modernized defensive positions in Crimea, which were previously created in case of a Ukrainian landing on the peninsula.