Russia is gradually turning the annexed Crimean peninsula into a military firing range, displacing Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars, creating a springboard for further aggressive actions in the Black Sea region.

"The peninsula is turning into a military training area. Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians are being displaced, and people from the Russian Federation are brought there to create a springboard for further aggressive actions in the Black Sea region. These are not just words. The Russian economy is in dire straits," Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar said in an interview with Ukrinform.

He stressed that Russia was trying to create the illusion of successful development of the peninsula and inefficiency of international sanctions.

"It is not true that sanctions do not work. They work pretty good, the Russians are simply trying not to show it. They create the illusion of success that is no more," the diplomat said.

He is convinced that the main task today is to achieve termination of the war by political means and to gradually reintegrate Ukrainian territories on Ukrainian terms.

"Otherwise it cannot be. If we try to play a giveaway game with Russians, we will definitely lose," Bodnar summed up.

At the end of November, Chief of General Staff - Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Ruslan Khomchak stated that Russia intended to create a powerful military base on the territory of the annexed Crimea in order to harass entire Europe and North Africa and make attempts to dominate in the Mediterranean, viewing the Black Sea basin "almost as Russian inland waters."

ol