Former German Chancellor Schroeder called Zelensky's statements to return Crimea meaningless

“The idea that President Zelensky will be able to get Crimea by military means is nonsense,” he told ABC.

Schroeder recalled that Crimea became part of the Ukrainian SSR only because Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev decided so.

“And he did this because he thought that the USSR would live as long as the Catholic Church, which, fortunately, turned out not to be the case,” the former chancellor concluded.

Earlier, Zelensky said that Kyiv would "take away" Crimea from Russia "by any means."

He said this while speaking at the Crimean Platform summit.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stressed that the issue of Crimea is closed for Russia, and the referendum on the peninsula was held in strict accordance with international law.

Crimea became a Russian region after a referendum held there in March 2014, in which the majority of residents voted for reunification with Russia.