Ukraine rejects Russian offer to return military wrecks from Crimea

12 January 2018

First Deputy Chair of Ukrainian Parliament Iryna Herashchenko has dismissed Russian president Vladimir Putin’s offer to return Ukrainian military equipment still in Crimea. “They are brought to an awful condition by the invaders, just like the entire Crimea. Everything touched by the ‘Russian world’ comes to a waste,” Herashchenko wrote on her blog on Jan. 11. President Putin had offered the equipment when talking with Russian magazine editors on Jan. 11, and had specifically mentioned the state of the equipment, which includes warships and a submarine as well as aviation and land vehicles, calling them “wrecks” and pointing out that they had not maintained the pieces over the years.

 

James Hydzik: The war of words between Russia and Ukraine has not diminished, and given the upcoming meetings between Russia and Ukraine’s allies, we can expect an escalation in the media for the next few weeks. Unfortunately, there has also been an uptick in military action in Donbas despite the holiday ceasefire and this can also be expected to intensify. However, we do not expect a major thrust beyond the current ATO zone in Donetsk and Luhansk regions from the east at this time.