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DONALD TRUMP HAS said he believed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was ready to concede Crimea to Russia as part of any ceasefire deal, as talks on a truce entered what Washington called a critical week.
The US President also stepped up pressure on Vladimir Putin, saying he should “stop shooting” and sign an agreement to end the grinding war that started with Moscow’s February 2022 invasion.
Trump’s comments came a day after he met Zelensky during the funeral of Pope Francis, breaking the ice after a major row between the US and Ukrainian leaders at the White House in February.
“Oh, I think so,” Trump told reporters in Bedminster, New Jersey, when asked whether he thought Zelensky was ready to “give up” Crimea – despite the Ukrainian president repeatedly saying he never would.
Trump added that during their talks in the Vatican they had “briefly” discussed the fate of the Black Sea peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
The 78-year-old US president, who boasted before his inauguration that he could halt Russia’s invasion of Ukraine within one day, launched a diplomatic offensive to stop the fighting after taking office in January.
Kyiv and western allies have feared that Trump was pivoting towards Moscow’s position.
But the US leader has appeared increasingly impatient with Putin in recent days.
Russia launched drone and missile attacks the night after the Vatican talks, killing four people in regions across eastern Ukraine and wounding more than a dozen.
“I want him to stop shooting, sit down, and sign a deal,” Trump said yesterday when asked what he wanted from Putin.
“We have the confines of a deal, I believe, and I want him to sign it.”
The White House has said that without rapid progress, it could walk away from its role as a broker. Trump indicated that he would give the process “two weeks.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressed the importance of the week ahead.
“We’re close, but we’re not close enough” to a deal to halt the fighting, Rubio told NBC News yesterday. “I think this is going to be a very critical week.”
But there is still US frustration with both sides, as the war, which has devastated swaths of eastern Ukraine and killed tens of thousands of people, drags on.
Ukraine launched a “massive” drone attack on Russia’s Bryansk region on Sunday, killing one civilian and injuring another, the regional governor said.
Washington has not revealed details of its peace plan, but has suggested freezing the front line and accepting Russian control of Crimea in exchange for an end to hostilities.
Russia claims to have annexed four eastern and southern territories of war-battered Ukraine since its full-scale invasion three years ago, despite not having full military control over them.
Russia holds about 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory, including Crimea.
Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that Ukraine should not agree to all the steps reportedly set out in the deal proposed by Trump.
Kyiv knew a ceasefire “may involve territorial concessions,” Pistorius told broadcaster ARD.
“But these will certainly not go… as far as they do in the latest proposal from the US president.”
Europe has pushed for a bigger role in the Ukraine talks, with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer joining Trump and Zelensky briefly for the meeting in Saint Peter’s Basilica.
Rubio meanwhile had a phone call Sunday with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the foreign ministry in Moscow said.
The pair said there were “emerging prerequisites” for starting negotiations towards a long term peace, a statement said.
Russia insists on keeping the territory it has taken and demands the demilitarization of Kyiv, plus an end to western support.
In a sign of the war’s global dimensions, North Korea on Monday confirmed for the first time that it had deployed troops to Russia’s Kursk region and said its soldiers had helped Moscow reclaim territory there.
Moscow over the weekend claimed the “liberation” of Kursk, where Kyiv launched a shock cross-border offensive in August 2024, hoping to use land there as a bargaining chip in any peace talks.
But Zelensky said Sunday that Ukraine’s army was “maintaining our presence on Russian territory.”
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Sure! Trump claims his administration is also in official negotiations with China about tariffs & trade. Trump will claim anything if it makes it appear, even just for 24 hours, that he’s being successful. The problem with BS’ing and lies is that you automatically have to BS and lie more to cover the previous BS and lies.
@Numinous20111: I wonder if Russia annexed Alaska would the Trump regime be so quick to give it up.
Or is it the case that right and wrong depends on how big a stick you wield?
@Stanley Marsh: No they definitely wouldn’t, but the scenario is totally different. The US would be more than capable of waging a war to win back Alaska. Ukraine on the other hand are slowly loosing. They are running out of men where as Russia have 4 to 5 times the population and are recruiting cannon fodder from North Korea and Africa whom they are just sending into the meat grinder. Short of allied countries sending troops to bolster the numbers Ukraine are fighting a loosing battle. And by doing so we would be talking about a world war perhaps.Russia can drag this out but eventually there is going to have to be a deal. When is enough enough.
@Stanley Marsh: Maybe Trump should give Alaska back to Russia! After all it was theirs first!
Putin has his eye on far more than Crimea. Surrendering Crimea won’t satisfy Putin it will encourage him unless Ukraine is immediately admitted to NATO or an equivalent safeguard
@thomas molloy: conspiracy theory’s don’t help, russia wants their enemy away from its borders and who can blame them, nato have large amount of high tech weapons and is set up solely to oppose russia and anything russian, nato came to russian borders russian never came close to united states borders, the ones with the eyes open see what’s what, the games up ukriane.
@Darran Macken: editors note: NATO ‘came’ to Russian borders because lots of former Soviet satellite states were worried that Russia might invade them again. Their decision to join NATO has been shown to be the right one. Ask Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine. Russia feels threatened by countries they can’t invade.
@honey badger: none of the countries you listed are in NATO.
@thomas molloy: No feckin way is Ukraine going to be a NATO member. If that does come to pass WW3 is on the cards.
@ANDY EARLEY: I know. Thanks for not understanding the point, Andy.
@thomas molloy: Think it’s high time that we joined NATO. You can never trust Putin, and that comes from Russia guys that I personally know.
Trumps claims lots of things. Do you recall that in 2019, it was shown that around 70% of the things he says are shown to be untrue?
If Kosovo can vote to leave Serbia, then Crimea can vote to leave Ukraine. A lot people here would cheer on Scotland voting to leave the UK.
@Ichabod Crane: And if that’s their wish, so be it, but there wasn’t any vote in 2014, just an invasion.
@Ichabod Crane: Just like the rest of Ukraine, Crimea did vote to leave Russia, in 1992. However russia has been pushing out Ukrainians and planting their puppets and planters ever since, Go look up the fate of the Crimean Tatars as an example of what russia does.
They seem to have a problem with internationally recognised borders and democracy in general.
The people of Crimea, don’t think they voted to join Russia did they ? Forced to be part of a poor country. GDP per capita of Russia 14K per capita or less now. UN HDI rank 56..miserable place to live.. if they had stayed in Ukraine and got into EU, they could have enjoyed being among the wealthiest and most advanced group of countries in the world.. all EU rank high.. how tough being forced into decades of poverty in a dump like Russia..
@John Bathe: The only reason Ukraine is suddenly “eligible” to join the EU is because it was invaded. In February 2021 the EU released a report stating Ukraine was not ready to be considered a candidate to join the EU. Ukraine had hope for another review in 2024 with the hope of assension talks possibly beginning in 2030. Fast forward one year and Ukraine is invaded suddenly it’s the perfect candidate to join the EU that they will fast track it. Who knew being invaded was so advantageous to Ukraine.
@Ger Whelan: The Ukraine has worked very hard to change the problems that made EU membership not possible.
Nothing coming from Trump is credible.
Ukraine has lost the war, they press gang disabled and elderly men for the front lines ( disgraceful behaviour considering the amount of ukrainian fighting age men are cowering here in Ireland). They poked the bear repeatedly until Russia retaliated. When you lose in war you lose territory. The Germans understand this as they lost huge swathes of Germany in ww2. Ukraine FAFO simple as that.
@Keith Butler: speaking of lies, how’s your ‘disabled brother’ doing ‘Keith’?
stop….shot shooting
“I’ll solve this in one day” … nuff said.
Bet he’s not
*insert Seinfeld theme*
Told you honey! Proxy dropped and left to rot, this was always going to be the outcome. Never trust western military financier’s..
have your say