Anton Shuraev, Kyiv, choreographer

“There
is no sense in thinking about this now. It is like locking the stable
door after the horse is stolen. What’s done, is done. We will not get it
returned and any sanctions will not help. I only feel sorry for those
people who live in Crimea and didn’t want their land to become a part of
Russia.”

Anton Shuraev

Timur Donets, Kyiv, project manager

“I
love Crimea, I went there 10 years in a row. But now, I guess, I will
find some other place to go on my vacation. I feel very sorry for those
people in Crimea who are against all this. Because 96.6 percent of votes
“for” joining Russia? Are you kidding me? Only people in Chechnya vote
for the “United Russia” party (of Russian President Vladimir Putin) in
the same way. I’m
not sure we will get Crimea returned to us. Diplomatic methods won’t
work, and Ukraine is incapable of doing it by use of force. But if a
military confrontation begins, I believe, the world will not have any
other choice but act.”

Timur Donets

Lubov Chernyshenko, Kyiv, medical worker

“Crimea
is Ukrainian land. I think that everything was done hastily, with some
weird fever. Our current government didn’t have enough time to solve the
problem. They should have organize a meeting between Crimean government
and Ukrainian in either Kyiv or Crimea. Now
it depends on our government, whether we return Crimea or not. I am
sure that we can solve the problem ourselves, it is all on the
government and people of Crimea.”

Lubov Chernyshenko

Maria Motorina, Kyiv, student

“I
guess, we can get Crimea back. But I really doubt that it can be done
using diplomacy. It seems like it is going to be a war. Because if Putin
wanted to solve the problem diplomatically, we would have already
solved it somehow. And as far as I remember, Putin wanted Kyiv, not only
Crimea.”


Maria Motorina

Eugeniy Ivanchenko, Kyiv, unemployed

“Putin
will not calm down and will continue to ‘squeeze’ Ukrainians out of
their land. He is interested in the former Donetsk-Krivyi Rih Republic,
formed after revolution in 1918. If Ukrainian people rise, we will be
able to stop it. I assume, we should rely on ourselves.”

Eugeniy Ivanchenko

Petr Kondybko, professor

“We
should let Crimea go. I wish them luck, wish them to be hardworking and
prosperous. I really want Russia to back off so we could restore order
in our coutry. And time will show, who is right and who is wrong. Unfortunately,
Putin will not unhook. But look, all his methods are so from 15th to
17th centuries! Here in Kyiv we are Europeans now, those methods are
unaceptable for us.”

Petr Kondybko