Tatar leader predicts how Ukraine will liberate Crimea

Rufat Chubarov, the head of the Mejlis, the representative body of the Crimean Tatar people, explained in an interview with Radio NV on April 16 how the liberation of Crimea will go.

“Russia has built many fortifications in the north of Crimea, in the districts of Krasnoperekopsk and Dzhankoy,” NV [The New Voice of Ukraine] reports, citing Chubarov.

“There are entire hubs of such fortifications. Experts have different opinions on why they have been doing this, but it is unlikely that the entry of the Armed Forces of Ukraine into (occupied) Ukraine will look like a frontal assault, as was the case during the Second World War.”

According to him, Ukraine is currently accumulating special, high-precision weapons that will be used to destroy specific targets, as military experts have predicted.

“To deprive Russian troops of control over Crimea, certain targets have been chosen: the bridge across the Kerch Strait, the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s military ships, and powerful ammunition depots,” Chubarov revealed.

“It is known where they are located, particularly near Dzhankoy. Last year, one such depot was blown up.This is to block the overland corridor from the occupied Crimea through parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhya oblasts, which are also currently occupied, to the territory of Russia.”

The head of the Mejlis added that these targets are being closely monitored by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Earlier, in an interview with The Financial Times, presidential deputy chief-of-staff Andriy Sybiha stated that Ukraine is ready to begin talks on Crimea once the Armed Forces of Ukraine reach the administrative border of the peninsula. However, Kyiv does not rule out the possibility of “liberation by the forces of our army.”

On February 24, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated that negotiations with Moscow are only possible after Russian invasion forces leave Ukrainian territory and cease attacking Ukrainian citizens.