If we and NATO launched a full-scale war, one that would set off WWIII, Crimea would remain under Russian control.
And, never mind, the people of Crimea would fight to the death to avoid being forced to rejoin Ukraine. Most never wanted to be a part of it after the Soviet Union collapsed.
These fantasies are nonsense.
“These fantasies are nonsense.”
For the fantasies and nonsense, see the preceding paragraphs by Kazan.
Russians vacation there. Some live there. The “people of Crimea” include Tartars (the original inhabitants), Ukrainians, and the usual hodgepodge of Russians, Ukrainians, Tajiks, Armenians, etc., characteristic of the entire Eastern Europe and Eurasia, including Russia itself AND Ukraine. The “people of Crimea,” setting aside the demographic soup there, are dependent on mainland Ukraine for their drinking water, which is why Nikita joined Crimea to the Ukrainian Republic in the first place, and why Putin built such a ridiculously elongated bridge (now partially defunct) to create a land route from Russia to Crimea in the first place. If they were die-hard Russian nationalists, willing to “fight to the death” to avoid rejoining Ukraine, why did Putin have to import his fake separatists there in order to justify invading.
“Most never wanted to be a part of it after the Soviet Union collapsed.”
You did a poll? Really? Look at a map. You’d need a tectonic plate shift to separate Ukraine from Crimea, let alone float it across the Black Sea to become contiguous with Russia. it’s been thirty years since the Soviet Union collapsed, and eight years since Russia invaded Crimea using the “little green men” as his pretext. In the intervening 22 years, Ukraine has had its ups and downs. It, and Crimea, are not the same now as they were 30 years ago, or even eight years ago, any more than Russia is the same as it was when Boris Yeltsin climbed onto a tank and stopped it with his alcohol-stink burps.
Kick the Russian occupiers out—oh, yes. That is coming. And then have a referendum, after, say, one year, on what the “people of Crimea” want after the dust settles.