LONDON, June 12. /TASS/. The Daily Mail, the United Kingdom’s second biggest-selling daily newspaper, has referred to the Crimean Peninsula and Sevastopol as Russia’s territory, triggering a debate among its readers.

The newspaper published a story on Monday about the detonation of a World War II-era bomb in Crimea.

"The dramatic incident took place in the port city of Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula, in south-western Russia," it read.

One of Russian readers of the newspaper wrote on the website’s forum "thanks" for recognizing Crimea as part of Russia. Ukrainian readers reacted emotionally insisting that Crimea is the territory of their country.

The Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, a city with special status on the Crimean Peninsula, where most residents are Russians, refused to recognize the legitimacy of authorities who took power amid riots during the February 2014 coup in Ukraine.

Crimea and Sevastopol adopted declarations of independence on March 11, 2014. They held a referendum on March 16, 2014, in which 96.77% of Crimeans and 95.6% of Sevastopol voters chose to secede from Ukraine and join Russia.

President Vladimir Putin signed the reunification treaty on March 18, 2014. The document was ratified by the national legislature, the Federal Assembly, on March 21, 2014. Despite the convincing results of the referendum, Kiev refused to recognize Crimea as part of Russia.