The Ukrainian command explained why the Navy was "sacrificed" in 2014

The Ukrainian fleet "sacrificed itself" during the accession of the Crimea to Russia , to give Kiev time to get the army ready. This was in an interview with "112 Ukraine " said the assistant commander of the Ukrainian Navy captain first rank Marina Kanalyuk.

"We took the time to enable higher authorities to create conditions for the use of the Armed Forces in such a situation." All of the top leaders of the Russian security agencies came to the negotiations with us, and it made them busy for up to a month. During that time the mechanism of using APU-ATO was developed, and the Navy, in fact, sacrificed themselves in order to give other branches of military a chance to accumulate all the military power in conditions there the military was not up to task, "said Kanalyuk.

She noted that the fleet had to act in the absence of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and the Minister of Defense who fled to Russia and the local Naval Command, Interior Ministry and the Security Service almost immediately defected to Russia.

After the entry of Crimea into Russia, most of the ships of the Ukrainian fleet raised the flag of the Russian Navy. Moscow transferred in the spring of 2014 to Kiev part of the warships and auxiliary vessels. In January 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to return the remaining military equipment to Ukraine. Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko responded that Kiev was ready to accept ships from Crimea only together with the peninsula.

Crimea became the Russian region after a referendum held there in March 2014, where 96.77 percent of the Crimean voters and 95.6 percent of the residents of Sevastopol voted to join Russia. The referendum was organized after a coup in Ukraine in February. Kiev still considers Crimea its own, but temporarily occupied territory. The Russian leadership has repeatedly stated that Crimean residents voted democratically, in full compliance with international law and the UN Charter, to reunite with Russia. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the issue of Crimea is "closed down completely."

Ah, the old communist 97% BS. It’s called consensus messaging. They want to say 100% or 99% like Saddam Hussein claimed in his “election” but know that’s just too ridiculous, so they pick just under 97% thinking it’s more “believable.” They don’t opt for a somewhat more believable figure because then it loses the emotional impact of a message of consensus.
Funny the Democrats here use it too, to push their Global warming myth. 97% of “scientists” agree... blah blah blah...they used it again on something else the other day, and more recently they too tweaked it to be just under 97%.

It’s figure obtainable only through coercion and fear, or counting pregnant chads.

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority it is time to pause and reflect.” — Mark Twain

Having been to Sevastopol several times my opinion is that Russia did not gain much with the Ukrainian Navy. Ukraine didn’t have the money to properly maintain its fleet and most of their ships couldn’t get away from the pier.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.