Day 407 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

• Ukraine might allow talks with Russia over Crimea if the counteroffensive succeeds
• Zelensky: Poland will help form a coalition for combat aircraft for Ukraine
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrives on a visit to Turkey
• Putin scolded ambassadors that their countries forced him to attack Ukraine
• Russia reported a downed Ukrainian plane, the pilot was detained

Ukraine might allow talks with Russia over Crimea if the counteroffensive succeeds

Ukraine can negotiate with Russia for the return of Crimea, but only after all other occupied territories are liberated by military means.

This is what the deputy head of the presidential administration, Andrii Sybiha, who is primarily responsible for foreign policy, said in an interview with the Financial Times.

Kyiv is considering a military operation to liberate the peninsula, annexed in 2014, and does not rule out such a scenario. At the same time, "if we succeed in achieving our strategic goals on the battlefield and when we are on the administrative border with Crimea, we are ready to open a diplomatic page to discuss the issue," the newspaper quoted Sybiha as saying.

He is referring to the planned counteroffensive, which Ukraine says will begin in the spring. The Financial Times described his words as the most unequivocal signals from Ukraine that it is interested in continuing talks after it broke off peace talks with Russia in April after the fallout from Russia's occupation of Bucha and other towns in northern Ukraine.

Cooperation between Kyiv and Moscow was reduced to topics such as the exchange of prisoners of war or the deal to export grain through the Black Sea ports. Ukraine officially insists that the talks are pointless, and President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly vowed that his country will also regain Crimea, although a proposal discussed by the two sides in March called for the fate of the peninsula to remain unresolved for several years.

Can Ukraine get Crimea back?

Since last year, Ukraine has periodically attacked Russian military facilities in Crimea. In the West, however, many doubt it can, at least in the short term, recapture it, if only because of the exhaustion the impending counteroffensive would inflict on its forces.

The "Financial Times" notes that on the subject, the British military attache in Washington, Rear Admiral Tim Woods, warned about Crimea: "A political solution may be necessary, simply because of the concentration of (Russian) troops there and what it would mean for the Ukrainians to go there". "I don't think there will be a very quick military solution ... so we have to see how to create a favorable environment where Ukraine can offer negotiations and Ukraine, I think, will not object to that."

Sybiha’s words may therefore come as a relief to Western politicians, who also have another concern: the attempt to retake Crimea could lead to an even greater escalation with Russia, which for nine years has considered the peninsula Russian, and even to the use of nuclear weapons.

Zelensky has already hinted that the withdrawal of Russian troops from territories where they were not deployed before February 24 (the day of the invasion last year) could prompt Kyiv to consider a peace deal. However, such a position may clash with public opinion: a poll by the International Sociological Institute indicated that as of February 87% of Ukrainians considered any territorial concessions that could lead to peace to be unacceptable.

Zelensky: Poland will help form a coalition for combat aircraft for Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during his visit to Warsaw yesterday that Poland would help form a coalition of Western powers to provide fighter jets to Ukraine, as it did earlier this year for tanks, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.

Ukraine, which hopes to launch a counter-offensive in the coming weeks or months, wants to secure advanced fighter jets from the West, such as the US F-16, to fight Russian invaders and defend itself against airstrikes.

Warsaw is a close ally of Kyiv and helped mobilize support in the West for Ukraine to provide tanks as part of a coalition of countries, a move that initially ran into a diplomatic impasse that has since been overcome.

"Just as your (Polish) leadership proved itself in the tank coalition, I believe it will show itself in the aircraft coalition," Zelensky said in his speech in a square in Warsaw.

The Ukrainian leader said Russia will not defeat Europe as long as Ukraine and Poland work closely together. "Poland, shoulder to shoulder with you, we will establish freedom in Europe forever, tyranny will lose in history when it loses in Ukraine," added Zelensky.

He also warned of the threat of eroding solidarity for Ukraine and said artillery and tanks should be made available when they are needed for the battle on the frontline. "Because this is a battle for freedom and it is impossible to win it partially," said the Ukrainian president.

"(Ukraine) did not give in to fear, even though the targets of the attacks were civilian objects, hospitals, kindergartens, these are war crimes for which judicial responsibility should be sought and the criminals should be punished," said Polish President Andrzej Duda.

A little earlier, he stated that Poland will provide a total of 14 MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrives on a visit to Turkey

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrives on a two-day visit to Turkey for a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. The two will discuss issues related to the construction of the Akkuyu NPP and the Turkish Stream gas pipeline.

Among the topics of the talks will be the situation surrounding the so-called “grain deal”. A statement from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the two ministers will discuss the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the principles and ways of its peaceful settlement.

In an interview with Russia's state-run Russia 1 channel, Lavrov commented that the United States and Russia were in a heated phase of war, but expressed hope that Washington would soon change its position.

"We are really in a heated phase of war, because the Ukrainian Nazis are fighting with American weapons, and the administration in Washington every time threatens to supply them with even more far-reaching and more deadly weapons. But I believe that relations with the United States must be maintained, we do not lose hope that the Americans will change their thinking and renew the dialogue. Let's see, we won't have to wait long," said Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister.

Putin scolded ambassadors that their countries forced him to attack Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday told the new US and EU ambassadors in harsh language that their countries were responsible for the dramatic deterioration in relations since Russia sent its armed forces into Ukraine last year.

The ambassadors were among 17 to formally present their diplomatic credentials to Putin in a televised ceremony in the Kremlin. It ended embarrassingly with Putin telling them three times that the meeting was over. Finally, he explained to them from 20-30 meters away that due to sanitary restrictions, he could not exchange a few words with them, then he told them “All the best!” and went home. They just nodded at him.

Putin told new US ambassador Lynne Tracy that Washington's support for the 2014 revolution in Ukraine led to the current situation where Russia and Ukraine are in conflict. According to him, their relations are in a "deep crisis", which is "based on fundamentally different approaches to the formation of the modern world order".

"Dear Madam Ambassador, I know you may not agree, but I cannot but say that the use by the United States... of such instruments as support for the so-called 'color revolutions', support in this respect for the coup in Kyiv in 2014 ultimately led to today's Ukrainian crisis," Putin said.

Russia responded to the uprising in Kyiv that ousted a pro-Russian president in 2014 by seizing the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine and backing an armed separatist movement that took control of territory in eastern Ukraine. For many months, Moscow and the Kremlin personally denied that they had sent an army there and several times changed the main version of the aggression, which is still recognized by only a handful of countries in the world.

Putin took a similar stance with new EU ambassador Roland Gallagher, who took office in September, telling him that "the European Union has initiated a geopolitical confrontation with Russia."

Putin also called on Denmark to support Russia's proposal to set up an independent international commission to investigate the explosions that ruptured the underwater Nord Stream pipelines supplying gas from Russia to Germany last September.

In his opening remarks, Putin said that Russia is open to a constructive partnership with any country and will not isolate itself, despite the complex situation in the world.

Russia claims it was forced to intervene in Ukraine to stop Western interference, which is becoming a threat to its security. The West and Kyiv dismissed this as a baseless pretext for a war of conquest, and the West imposed a barrage of economic sanctions and began supplying Ukraine with advanced weapons and other resources to counter Russian forces.

After the ceremony, which was also attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, he was asked by a journalist from state television how an American ambassador hands over letters of credence, and according to Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, the two countries are actually in a heated phase of war.

"We are really in the hot phase of the war, because the Ukrainian Nazis are fighting with American weapons above all, and the American administration is threatening each time with more and more long-range, lethal systems that it supplies [to Ukraine]," the minister said without stopping in front of the microphones.

Lavrov noted that, despite this, it is necessary to maintain relations between the two countries. He expressed "the hope that the Americans will wake up and still resume some dialogue". According to the minister, "we don't have much to wait". Lavrov did not clarify what he meant by the last words.

Russia reported a downed Ukrainian plane, the pilot was detained

The Russian border service of the Russian counterintelligence agency FSB reported the crash of a light motor plane in the Bryansk region, bordering Ukraine.

According to the service, the plane was Ukrainian, and the pilot was detained. The Russian Telegram channel Mash, close to the services, also showed photos of the pilot.

No details are reported, but it is known that an attack by fighters of the "Russian Volunteer Corps" group was announced in the Bryansk region a month ago, in which (according to Moscow) two people were killed.

Ukrainian authorities deny having anything to do with the attack.

Bryansk region is also often targeted by Ukrainian drones. One of them carried out an attack on a military site, and its shell landed near a police station in a town in the district this week.

Novinite is still the only Bulgarian media that publishes a summary of events and highlights related to the conflict, every single day. Our coverage began on day one - 24.02.2022 and will not stop until the war has concluded. Despite the pressure, our independent media will continue to provide its readers with accurate and up-to-date information. Thank you for your support! #stayinformed

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