KIEV (Sputnik) — The United States and its administration will never recognize Crimea's reunification with Russia, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Thursday.
"I have never had a doubt that no US president, including Donald Trump, will ever recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea," Poroshenko told the Sky News broadcaster.
The Ukrainian president stressed that the United States had been supporting Kiev for a long time and should demonstrate its position on Ukraine to maintain its status as a global power.
"I have no doubt that the status of global leader of US cannot be maintained without a clear position as regards Ukraine," Poroshenko added.
Crimea seceded from Ukraine and rejoined Russia in March 2014, after a referendum determined that almost 97 percent of the region's population was in favor of the move. The referendum was held after the February 2014 coup in Ukraine. Kiev, as well as the European Union, the United States and many of their allies, did not recognize the move and consider the peninsula to be an occupied territory.
Russia's leadership, including President Vladimir Putin, has repeatedly said that the Crimean residents had made their own decision and that the issue of the peninsula's territorial belonging was closed.
