Russia-Ukraine war: Kyiv blasts Croatian president's Crimea comments

Ukraine’s foreign ministry criticized the comments by Croatian President Zoran Milanovic over the Russian-annexed Crimea. Milanovic’s comments were in contrast with his country’s Prime Minister and the public, who have openly expressed support for Ukraine.

The spokesperson for Ukraine’s foreign ministry said Milanovic’s comments about the Crimean peninsula were completely “unacceptable” and that Milanovic was undermining Ukraine’s territorial integrity. However, the spokesperson also thanked the Croatian government and the Croatian people for supporting Ukraine as the war approaches one year.

“We consider as unacceptable the statements of the president of Croatia, who effectively cast doubt on the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” said spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko in a post on Facebook.

“We highly appreciate and thank the government of Croatia and the Croatian people for their steadfast support of Ukrainians in the fight against Russian aggression,” said Nikolenko in the same post.

Milanovic voiced his objection to Croatia providing military aid to Ukraine on Monday, saying that it was clear that “Crimea will never again be part of Ukraine.” Russia seized the Crimean peninsula in 2014. Ukraine has said it will not abandon efforts to regain control of Crimea.

Milanovic’s comments come in contrast with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, who has openly expressed support for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the British defense ministry in its intelligence bulletin on Wednesday said some of the heavy shelling has been taking place along the Dnipro river in southern Ukraine in recent days. The ministry cited the continued shelling of Kherson city, with artillery coming from the east of the Dnipro river, and how Kherson is the Ukrainian city that has often been hit by Russian shells.

“Kherson remains the most consistently shelled large Ukrainian city outside of the Donbas,” said the ministry. “Russia’s precise rationale for expending its strained ammunition stocks here is unclear. However, commanders are likely partially aiming to degrade civilian morale and to deter any Ukrainian counter-attacks across the Dnipro river.”

The ministry also noted that three civilians were killed in the shelling of Kherson as of Sunday, while two foreign-owned ships were also struck by Russian rockets, resulting in an oil spill in the river.