Top Ukrainian official outlines plan for a Crimea without Russia

A top Ukrainian official has outlined a series of steps the government in Kiev would take after the country reclaims control of Crimea, including dismantling the strategic bridge that links the seized Black Sea peninsula to Russia.

Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, published the plan on Sunday as Ukraine's military prepares for a spring counteroffensive in hopes of making new, decisive gains after more than 13 months of war.

Moscow illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, but most of the world does not recognise it as Russian territory. The peninsula's future status will be a key feature in any negotiations on ending the current fighting.

The Kremlin has demanded that Ukraine recognise Russia’s sovereignty over Crimea and acknowledge other land gains made by Moscow as a condition for peace. 

Kiev has ruled out any peace talks with Moscow until Russian troops leave all occupied territories, including Crimea.

So, what does Ukraine's plan suggest?

Danilov suggested prosecuting Ukrainians who worked for the Moscow-backed administration in Crimea, adding that some would face criminal charges and others would lose government pensions and be banned from public jobs.

All Russian citizens who moved to Crimea after 2014 should be expelled, and all real estate deals made under Russian rule nullified, Danilov wrote on Facebook.

As part of the plan, he also called for dismantling a 19-kilometre (12-mile) bridge that Russia built to Crimea. A truck bomb severely damaged the bridge, Europe's longest, in October. Moscow blamed Ukrainian military intelligence for the attack.

Russia has repaired the damaged section of the bridge and restored the flow of supplies to Crimea, which has served as a key hub for the Russian military during the war. 

Ukraine did not claim responsibility for the bomb, but Ukrainian officials had repeatedly threatened to strike the bridge in the past.

READ MORE: Russia’s annexation plan for Ukraine, explained

'Sick' plan: Russia responds

The Moscow-supported head of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, shrugged off Danilov's plan as “sick.”

“It would be wrong to seriously treat comments by sick people. They must be cured, and that's what our military is doing now,” Razvozhayev told the Russian state news agency Tass.

Danilov published his plan as Ukrainian troops prepared to use newly supplied Western weapons, including dozens of battle tanks, to break through Russian defences and reclaim occupied areas in a counteroffensive expected as early as this month.

Russian troops are trying to capture the key Ukrainian stronghold of Bakhmut as part of their efforts to take all of Donetsk province, which is part of Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland of the Donbass. 

Ukrainian authorities reported that Russian shelling killed another six civilians on Sunday in Kostiantynivka, a small city in Donetsk province. 

READ MORE: Türkiye reiterates 'illegal annexation' of Crimea, voices support for Kiev