Ukraine Military Chief Says Crimea Will Be Target for Next Year's Offensive

Ukrainian officials have said that the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula should be the target of a counteroffensive in 2023.

Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine's top military leader, and Mykhailo Zabrodskyi, a lawmaker, detailed the plans in an article published Wednesday by state news agency Ukrinform, amid renewed calls for Ukraine to retake the region that was annexed by Russia in 2014.

They said the only way to "radically change the strategic situation" is for Ukraine's armed forces to launch several consecutive, and ideally simultaneous, counterattacks in 2023.

"If we consider the 2023 campaign as a turning point, then for consideration we need to return to the definition of the center of gravity for the Russian Federation in this war. After all, only an effective influence on the enemy's center of gravity can lead to changes in the course of the war," wrote Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and Zabrodskyi, a retired military officer who now sits on a defense committee in Ukraine's parliament. "Provided that such a center of gravity is defined as control over the Crimean peninsula, it is logical to assume planning for 2023 an operation or a series of operations to seize the peninsula."

They also acknowledged in their article that Ukraine had been behind missile strikes on Russian air bases in the region, including one on August 9 at Russia's Saki air base, which Kyiv said had destroyed at least nine military aircraft.

"A convincing example of the correctness of this approach in the current year is the successful efforts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to physically transfer hostilities to the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea," the pair wrote. "We are talking about a series of successful missile strikes on the enemy's Crimean air bases, first of all, on the Saki airfield."

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment.

Ukraine had previously avoided publicly claiming responsibility for the strikes.

Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014 following a referendum that was viewed internationally as illegitimate.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed the country will retake the Black Sea peninsula.

"Ukraine is strong enough and powerful enough to see a perspective for Ukrainian Crimea," Zelensky said at the second iteration of the Crimea Platform on August 23. "We will bring freedom to Ukrainian citizens in Crimea, and we will restore justice to all those who suffered from the repressions and abuses of the Russian occupiers."

"I know that Crimea is with Ukraine, is waiting for us to return. I want all of you to know that we will return. We need to win the fight against Russian aggression. Therefore, we need to free Crimea from occupation.

"It began with Crimea, it will end with Crimea," Zelensky added, referring to the war Russian President Vladimir Putin launched against Ukraine, quoting jailed Crimean Tatar activist Nariman Dzhelyal.