U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said that the Americans consider the military facilities deployed by Russia in Crimea to be legitimate targets, BBC reports.
“We have never recognized Russia's hold on Crimea, and Ukraine owns all of its territory within internationally recognized borders,” she said.
According to Nuland, after the occupation of Crimea, Russia turned the peninsula into its military foothold, deploying combat forces, weapons depots and command centres that threaten and will continue to threaten Ukraine as long as they are there.
The United States views these military installations that Russia has deployed in Crimea as legitimate targets and supports the Ukrainian army's strikes against them.
“Those are legitimate targets. Ukraine is hitting them, and we are supporting that. Ukraine is not going to be safe unless Crimea is at a minimum militarized,” Nuland said.
At the same time, she added that before talking about Crimea, the Ukrainian military still needs to regain significant territories. "And that is what they are focused on now," she added.