The liberation of Crimea is likely to take place by military means and by the forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, according to Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Oleksiy Danilov.

"For us, Crimea is part of our territory … We must release it. Moreover, we will release it. Most likely, this will happen by military means – if the aggressor country does not understand by this time that it needs to leave our territory. We have no other option," Danilov said, speaking at an event dubbed "On the eve of the Third Summit of the Crimea Platform."

He stressed that "any other case regarding Crimea will mean the preservation of the situation, the transfer of the war to our descendants, our children and grandchildren. Since the Russian Federation, having Crimea under its control, will never accept that it will have to calm down and live in peace."

"Only by expelling Russia from Crimea, moving it into the Sea of Azov, we will understand that our state will have certain guarantees of our security for a certain period of time. There simply cannot be any other option," he said.

He also believes that such a position of Ukraine does not need to be brought to someone and hold any consultations [with Western partners].

"We need to do our job – which is what our military, our Armed Forces are doing. It's only a matter of time. Will it be hard? Yes, it will be hard. Will they ‘underhand’ persuade us? Most likely, messages will be voiced, but in this case I always say: Gulchatai, open your face. A lot of anonymous messages are received that allegedly someone is asking or offering us [to liberate Crimea]. But no one revealed their face. And as soon as the clerk from NATO opened his face, he immediately received a worthy response from the public," Danilov summed up.

As reported, in mid–August, director of the NATO Secretary General's Office, Stian Jenssen, said that the solution for Ukraine may be to give up the territory [in favor of the Russian Federation] and receive NATO membership in return. He later stated that he was mistaken.