The President of Croatia Zoran Milanovic stated that Crimea will never be part of Ukraine again. He also warned against confronting Russia, which has nuclear weapons.
In addition, he stated that from 2014 to 2022, Russia was provoked with the intention of starting a war in Ukraine, and now that it has started, "it is madness to think that Russia can be defeated in a conventional war."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Ukraine reacted to the pro-Russian statements of the Croatian president.
"I wonder if Zoran Milanovic would have been able to become the president of his country with such rhetoric in the 1990s, when Croatia was struggling to preserve its statehood? Would his voters agree to turn a blind eye to the occupation of part of their countryʼs territory? I doubt it," noted Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko.
He reminded that due to external aggression, Croatia could lose a third of its lands. However, thanks to the heroic struggle, the Croats were able to protect the independence of their state.
"We consider unacceptable the statements of the president of Croatia, who actually questioned the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Instead, we highly appreciate and thank the government of Croatia and the Croatian people for the steadfast support of Ukrainians in the fight against Russian aggression," Nikolenko emphasized.
- On January 25, 2022, before Russiaʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the president of Croatia declared that Ukraine "has no place in NATO", and in the event of a war between Russia and Ukraine, his country would distance itself from it as much as possible. He also promised to withdraw from Eastern Europe the Croatian military contingent that is part of the NATO forces. After that, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Croatian ambassador to Ukraine Anitsa Dzamich and expressed "deep disappointment" with the statements of President Milanovic.
- On the same day, the Prime Minister of Croatia Andrii Plenkovic condemned President Zoran Milanovicʼs statement and asked for an apology from Ukraine.