Mainstream media acknowledges the “dangerous” goal of the Ukraine president.
QUICK FACTS:
- NBC News correspondent Keir Simmons traveled to Sevastopol, the location of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet, and noted that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s goal of retaking Crimea is “dangerous.”
- “It is a very, very dangerous standoff…it’s hard to see how you reach a negotiation over that,” the reporter said of the Ukrainian president’s endeavor.
- “When for example [Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs] Victoria Nuland talks about that at the very least we [the US] want Crimea to be demilitarized, I find myself standing there and wondering, how on earth does that happen?” the reporter asked.
- Despite military presence “absolutely everywhere” and Crimea citizens “view[ing] themselves as Russian,” Zelensky still desires to reclaim the area.
- According to the NBC News article, Crimean citizens “will all put on uniforms and will go to the border to defend [them]selves,” as many locals express a pro-Moscow sentiment.
- When asked what would happen if Ukraine attacked Crimea in an effort to reclaim it, another local stated “he wouldn’t take it.”
- The media’s admission of Zelensky’s goal being unrealistic “means that Biden’s policy of ‘only the Ukrainians can decide’ the objectives of the war makes no sense,” said entrepreneur David Sacks.
- While MSNBC is “suddenly airing the truth about Crimea, its chief Ukraine pundit is lobbying for an all-out attack,” Sacks added.
ZELENSKY AND CRIMEA:
- Zelensky posted on Telegram that “Once we return Crimea, we will restore peace. This is our land. Our people. Our history.”
- Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 after the Ukrainian coup that ousted the country’s then-pro-Russian president, resulting in Ukraine calling for a restoration of “internationally recognized borders.”
- “If Ukraine liberates Crimea, which I believe is possible this year, then everything else will follow,” said former U.S. Army Europe commander Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges.
- Spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry Maria Zakharova claimed U.S. leaders “incite the Kyiv regime to further escalate the war.”
- “They supply weapons in huge quantities, provide intelligence and participate directly in the planning of combat operations,” Zakharova continued.
BACKGROUND:
- After Zelensky warned that Americans will be “dying” if Ukraine loses the war, U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) asserted, “You’d better leave your hands off of our sons and daughters because they’re not dying over there.”
- Greene added that Ukraine “needs to find peace, not war.”
- Zelensky’s statement came as he fears Russia will attack NATO member states.
