U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview published Friday that “Crimea will stay with Russia,” the latest example of the U.S. leader pressuring Ukraine to make concessions to end the war while it remains under siege, reports AP.
“Zelenskyy understands that,” Trump said, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “and everybody understands that it’s been with them for a long time.”
The U.S. president made the comments in a Time magazine interview conducted on Tuesday. Trump has been accusing Zelenskyy of prolonging the war by resisting negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Western European leaders, however, have accused Putin of dragging his feet in the negotiations and seeking to grab more Ukrainian land while his army has battlefield momentum.
The war could be approaching a pivotal moment as the Trump administration weighs its options. Senior U.S. officials have warned that the administration could soon give up attempts to stop the war if the two sides do not come to a settlement. That could potentially mean a halt of crucial U.S. military aid for Ukraine.
Crimea is a strategic peninsula along the Black Sea in southern Ukraine. It was seized by Russia in 2014, while President Barack Obama was in office, years before Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor that began in February 2022.
“They’ve had their submarines there for long before any period that we’re talking about, for many years. The people speak largely Russian in Crimea,” Trump said. “But this was given by Obama. This wasn’t given by Trump.”
Zelenskyy has repeated many times during the war that recognizing occupied territory as Russian is a red line for his country.
Speaking to reporters Friday as he left the White House to attend the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, Trump said there is no deadline for the conclusion of peace talks.
“I just want to do it as fast as possible,” Trump said. Negotiators are “pretty close” to a deal, he said.
He promised to meet with foreign leaders while in Rome, and said it was “possible” he could meet with Zelenskyy.
Trump envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin in Moscow on Friday, their second meeting this month and the fourth since February.
The Kremlin released a short video of Putin and Witkoff greeting each other. “How are you, Mr. President?” Witkoff could be heard saying. “Fine, just fine, thank you,” Putin responded in rare remarks in English, as the two shook hands.
Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov and envoy for international cooperation Kirill Dmitriev joined the two at the table for the talks.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation” that he agreed with Trump’s opinion that negotiations “are moving in the right direction.”
Russia, he said, is “ready to reach a deal, but there are still some specific points — elements of this deal which need to be fine-tuned.” He declined to provide further details, according to excerpts of the interview that will air Sunday.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
