US President Donald Trump says he considers Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski to give up Crimea Russia as part of any fire termination agreement, in the context of discussions on an armistice, on Monday, in a week considered critically by Washington, AFP reports. However, the leader from Kyiv has repeatedly stated that he will not do this.
Trump's comments came one day after meeting Zelenski during Pope Francis's funerals, a meeting that broke the ice after the lit public dispute between the American leader and his Ukrainian counterpart that took place at the White House at the end of February.
“Oh, I think yes,” Trump told reporters back to the US, after being asked in New Jersey if he considers Zelenski to “give up” Crimea.
Trump added that, during the Vatican discussions, they spoke “briefly” about the fate of Crimea, occupied and annexed following an illegal referendum organized by Moscow in 2014.
The 78-year-old American leader, who praised himself before investing for the second term of president that he would end the Ukraine “in one day”, caused fears in Kiev and among the Western allies that he will tilt to Moscow.
However, AFP notes that Trump has been more and more impatient than Putin in recent days.
Attack with drones and rockets on Ukraine after the Trump-Zenski meeting
Russia has launched attacks with drones and rockets at night after Vatican discussions, killing four people in the east Ukraine and injuring other civilians.
“I want to stop pulling, sitting at the negotiation table and signing an agreement,” Trump said on Sunday, asked what is waiting for Putin. “I think we have the contours of an agreement and I want to sign it,” he added.
The White House warned that, in the absence of fast progress, it could withdraw its role as a mediator. Trump indicated that he will give the “two weeks” peace process.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressed the importance of the next week. “We are close, but not close enough” of an agreement for stopping the fights, Rubio told the NBC. “I think this will be a very critical week,” he said.
Washington has not officially revealed details of its peace plan, but the information obtained by the US press shows that it involves freezing the current front line and accepting Russian control over Crimea in exchange for cessation of hostilities.
Russia claims that it has annexed four territories in eastern and southern Ukraine, devastated by the war triggered by Vladimir Putin in February 2022, although it does not have full military control. Putin proclaimed in September 2022 the annexation in Russia of the regions Donetsk, Lugansk, Herson and Zaporojie.
Currently, Russia controls about 20% of Ukraine, including Crimea.
Trump: “Crimea will remain in Russia”
Donald Trump said in an interview published on Friday, before meeting in Rome with Zelenski, that the Peninsula “Crimea will remain in Russia”, in the context in which his administration is putting pressure to persuade Ukraine to accept a peace agreement that Kiev and his European allies consider it to be disadvantaged.
“Crimea will stay in Russia. And Zelenski understands this, and everyone understands that it is for a long time. It has been to them long before Trump appeared. Again, this is Obama's war. This is a war that should never take place.
The US president stressed that the Russians “had submarines there long before the period we are talking about, for many years.” “The people of Crimea speak largely Russian,” he added.
Trump made these comments in an interview with Time magazine, in which he also said that the US is close to obtaining a peace agreement in negotiations with Russia and Ukraine.
Zelenski: “Our position remains unchanged
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski said on Friday, after publishing the interview with Trump, that the Crimea Peninsula belongs to Ukraine and that the position of Kiev has not changed.
“Our position remains unchanged: only the Ukrainian people have the right to decide what the territories of Ukraine are. The Constitution of Ukraine clearly stipulates that all temporarily occupied territories … belong to Ukraine, the Ukrainian people,” Zelenski said in a press conference in Kiev.
Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview broadcast by CBS News that Russia will continue to hit objectives used by the Ukrainian army. Asked about a recent attack on the Kiev soldier with civil victims, Lavrov claimed that “the targeted target was not completely civil.”
President Zelenski said that Russia has held almost 70 attacks on Sunday and warned that “World pressure on Russia to end this war is still insufficient.”
Ukrainian and European officials rejected last week some of the United States proposals on the end of Russia triggered in Ukraine, coming up with counter -proposals such as territories and sanctions.
The main divergences between the two proposals aimed at the order in which the territorial issues, the lifting of the sanctions imposed on Russia, the security guarantees and the dimension of the Ukrainian army were addressed.
The European and Ukrainian proposal postponed the detailed discussions about the territories until after a fire termination agreement.
The German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Sunday that Ukraine should not accept the last proposal of US President Donald Trump on the transfer of territories in exchange for an armistice with Russia, because it would be similar to a “capitulation”.
It follows the latest developments in the 1160th day of the Ukraine LiveText on HotNews.ro.
