DM Monitoring
WASHINGTON: U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy clashed again on Wednesday on efforts to end the three-year-old war in Ukraine, with the U.S. leader chiding Zelenskiy for refusing to recognize Russia’s occupation of Crimea.
Trump’s Vice President JD Vance said it was time for Russia and Ukraine to either agree to a U.S. peace proposal “or for the United States to walk away from the process,” echoing a warning Trump gave last week.
Speaking to reporters in India, Vance said the proposal called for freezing territorial lines “at some level close to where they are today” and a “long-term diplomatic settlement that hopefully will lead to long-term peace.”
“The only way to really stop the killing is for the armies to both put down their weapons, to freeze this thing,” he said.
A former Western official familiar with the U.S. proposal said it also called for the recognition of Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said on Wednesday in an X post that he stressed to the U.S. in London that Ukraine “will stand firm on its core principles during the negotiations” that relate to sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Zelenskiy on Tuesday reiterated that Ukraine will not recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea, saying: “There’s nothing to talk about here. This is against our constitution.”
Trump, who argued with Zelenskiy in a televised Oval Office meeting in March, called this an inflammatory statement that made a peace deal harder to achieve.
The U.S. president said Crimea was lost years ago “and is not even a point of discussion.”
“Nobody is asking Zelenskiy to recognize Crimea as Russian Territory but, if he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it eleven years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired?” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Russian fighters seized control of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 in a move that was condemned internationally. Few countries recognize Russia’s claim to Crimea.
Trump scolded the Ukrainian leader and said the U.S. was trying to stop the killing in his country and that they were “very close to a deal” for peace.
Since taking office in January, Trump has sharply altered the U.S. approach, pressing Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire while easing many measures the Biden administration took to punish Russia for its 2022 full-scale invasion of its neighbor.
Nevertheless, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said after Wednesday’s talks, Kyiv was committed to working with the U.S. to achieve peace.
