For Kyiv, Crimea had been a strategic asset, too. By the time Russia annexed it in 2014, it had been a part of Ukraine for 60 years and had become part of the country’s identity.

Explainer-Where Is Crimea and Why Is It Contested? (Reuters) - The Crimean peninsula, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014, is at the centre of the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War.

FILE - People watch as Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech after signing treaties for four regions of Ukraine to join Russia in the Moscow's Kremlin, during a meeting in Sevastopol ...