US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky clashed again on Wednesday on efforts to end the three-year-old war in Ukraine, with the US leader chiding Zelenskiy for refusing to recognize Russia's occupation of Crimea.
Trump said in a Truth Social post that a deal was ‘very close’ but that Zelensky's refusal to accept US terms for ending the conflict — which began with Russia's invasion — ‘will do nothing but prolong the 'killing field.'’ The comments came as lower-level envoys from Washington, Kyiv and European nations wrapped up talks in Britain.
Ahead of Trump's broadside, Vice President JD Vance laid out the US vision for a peace deal where Russia would get to keep already occupied swaths of Ukraine, which include Crimea.
Zelensky rejected this as a violation of Ukraine's constitution.
That in turn prompted Trump's outburst in which he accused Zelensky of ‘boasting’ and taking a position ‘very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia.’ ‘Inflammatory’ Zelensky ‘has ‘no cards’ and ‘can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country,’ Trump wrote.
Trump said Crimea — a lush Black Sea peninsula with longtime major Soviet and Russian naval facilities — ‘was lost years ago’ and ‘is not even a point of discussion.’ The intense US pressure on Ukraine to accept the terms comes as Trump is scrambling to live up to his election campaign promises, which included vowing to resolve the conflict in 24 hours.
Trump's Vice President JD Vance said it was time for Russia and Ukraine to either agree to a US peace proposal ‘or for the US 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 US proposal said it also called for the recognition of Russia's annexation of Crimea.
Zelensky's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said that he stressed to the US 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 Zelensky in a televised Oval Office meeting in March, called this an inflammatory statement that made a peace deal harder to achieve.
‘Nobody is asking Zelensky 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 US 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 US 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 US to achieve peace.
Earlier, US, Ukrainian and European officials met in London for peace talks aimed at ending the three-year war. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio cancelled his trip there, raising questions over how much progress was being made.
Rubio's no-show prompted cancellation of a broader meeting with foreign ministers from Ukraine, Britain, France and Germany, underscoring the gaps between Washington, Kyiv and its European allies over how to bring an end to the war.
Trump has warned Washington could walk away if there was no progress on a deal soon. He raised the pressure on Sunday when he said he hoped Moscow and Kyiv would make a deal this week to end the conflict.
At the heart of Wednesday's talks was an attempt to establish what Kyiv could possibly accept after Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff presented proposals to a similar session in Paris last week. Three diplomats said those proposals appeared to demand more concessions from Ukraine than Russia.
A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer played down any disappointment over Rubio's abrupt cancellation and said the talks involved ‘substantive technical meetings with European, US and Ukrainian officials on how to stop the fighting.’ ‘We remain absolutely committed to securing a just and lasting peace in Ukraine and these talks today are an important part of that,’ the spokesperson said.
One official close to the negotiations said progress was being made.
