Real peace will only be achieved in Ukraine by restoring the country's borders and it taking back Crimea, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Thursday.
“Real peace means restoring the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine. Real peace means a safe homeland for the targeted people in the Ukrainian Crimea,” Kuleba said via video link in an address to the Black Sea Security Conference in Bucharest.
“Real peace means grain ships in the Black Sea, not warships. The world under the rule of international law, rather than force is what real peace means. That is what we're fighting for,” Kuleba added.
“If Russia keeps Crimea once it has revealed its strengths, it will use it as a launchpad to invade Ukraine once again and take full control of the Black Sea. We will not allow this to happen. This is why we will liberate every inch of our territory and every last one of our fellow citizens,” the Ukrainian minister said.
“And that is why we are today calling for a demilitarization of the Black Sea so that peaceful law-abiding countries can once again use the shared sea to trade travel and live freely without fear of Russian warships,” Kuleba added.
Kuleba reiterated the impact of Russia’s aggression, saying it has left “a bleeding wound in the middle of Europe,” while adding it was time to turn the Black Sea into “a sea of NATO.”
What Moscow says: Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded to Kuleba’s statement, saying that “the Black Sea will never be a NATO sea."
“This is a common sea for all coastal states. It should be a sea of cooperation, interaction, and security," Peskov said on a regular conference call.
CNN’s Anna Chernova contributed to this post.