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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged world leaders Wednesday to resist any weakening of international sanctions against Russia, warning that easing restrictions would embolden Moscow's military ambitions as the war in Ukraine enters its third year.
Speaking at the fifth Crimea Platform summit in New York — the first time the diplomatic gathering has been held alongside the UN General Assembly — Zelenskyy addressed more than 60 participating nations about the continuing threat posed by Russia's 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.
"Russia broke one of the basic rules of normal life among nations by illegally annexing our Ukrainian Crimea," Zelenskyy told the assembled delegates. "There must be no normalization of Russia's war ... and there must be no forgiveness for what Russia has done."
The summit's timing and location underscore Ukraine's effort to maintain international focus on the Crimean issue, which many analysts view as the opening chapter of Russia's broader territorial ambitions. The annexation, which followed Russia's military intervention after Ukraine's 2014 revolution, was widely condemned by the international community but failed to prompt the extensive sanctions that would later follow Russia's full-scale invasion in Feb. 2022.
Zelenskyy characterized Russia's seizure of Crimea as the precursor to subsequent "aggression," linking the peninsula's occupation directly to the current conflict that has displaced millions of Ukrainians and reshaped European security architecture.
The Ukrainian president emphasized that sanctions coordination remains crucial to preventing Crimea from becoming "one large military base" and noted that "repression is the harshest in Crimea and others areas under Russian control."
Ukraine has intensified military operations targeting Russian positions in occupied territories, with Zelenskyy citing recent drone strikes and logistical disruptions as evidence of mounting pressure on Russia's "war machine." These operations have created "serious difficulties" for Russian forces, he said, while reiterating that Moscow bears sole responsibility for the conflict.
"Do not let war become part of the norm," Zelenskyy warned. "Russia very much wants to make war the new normal, and this is exactly what we must resist."
The Crimea Platform, launched by Ukraine in August 2021, serves as a diplomatic mechanism to maintain international attention on the peninsula's status and coordinate responses to Russian occupation policies. The initiative has grown from its initial focus on Crimean issues to encompass broader questions about preventing the normalization of territorial conquest through military force.
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