Donald Trump has accused Volodymyr Zelenskyy of jeopardising what he claimed was an imminent peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, as he gave the clearest hint yet that the US would be willing to formally recognise Russia’s seizure of Crimea as part of any agreement.
The US president claimed a deal to end the war – largely negotiated between Washington and Moscow – was close, while the vice-president, JD Vance, said the agreement would include a proposal to freeze the conflict roughly along the current frontlines.
It was unclear how Ukraine and its European allies, who were meeting in London on Wednesday, would respond to a plan largely constructed in their absence. Zelenskyy countered by proposing a simple ceasefire without conditions on both sides, though this did not immediately gain any traction from the US.
But after a day of speculation and partial disclosure of the terms of the peace proposal, Trump attacked his Ukrainian counterpart for complaining that Kyiv was unwilling to cede Crimea to Russia – the most contentious aspect of the tentative agreement that has leaked so far.
The US president wrote on social media that “Crimea was lost years ago” in 2014, when Barack Obama was president, and its control “is not even a point of discussion”, an apparent reference to the fact that Ukraine has been unable to recapture it in the three-year war sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.
Reports that Washington would be willing to recognise Crimea under Russian control have been circulating for a couple of days. That prompted Zelenskyy to say on Tuesday that “Ukraine will not recognise the occupation of Crimea”, arguing that doing so it would be incompatible with the country’s constitution.
Responding to a report of his comments, Trump wrote on Wednesday that “this statement is very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia” and accused the Ukrainian leader of making “inflammatory statements” that “makes it so difficult to settle this War”.
“Nobody is asking Zelenskyy to recognize Crimea as Russian Territory,” Trump wrote, implying that US was willing to do so, before accusing Ukraine of failing to defend Crimea. “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?”
Russia unilaterally annexed Crimea in March 2014 during a political crisis in Ukraine after the ousting of the country’s pro-Russia president, Viktor Yanukovych. Gunmen seized the regional parliament and airports, and in a subsequent referendum 97% voted to join Russia. The poll was not recognised as legal by the US, UK or EU.
Matthew Savill, the director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute thinktank, said that US recognition of Russia’s control of Crimea would be a “de jure recognition of territory taken by force” and amount to “actively endorsing the Russian position in opposition to the European position and Ukrainian politics”.
A Ukraine peace summit in London was hastily downgraded on Wednesday morning after Washington said the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, would not be travelling the evening before. Hosted by the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, the meeting was said to be taking place at the level of officials instead.
Downing Street said it had consisted of substantive technical meetings on how to stop the fighting, with Washington’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg; Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, and national security advisers from France and Germany among those present.
Vance had earlier called on Ukraine and Russia to accept a US-led peace proposal and threatened that Washington would abandon its effort to end the war – a Trump campaign promise – if it was not accepted.
“We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say yes or for the United States to walk away from this process,” Vance said.
The US proposal would mean “we’re going to freeze the territorial lines at some level close to where they are today”, Vance said, though he added there should be some adjustments. “Now, of course, that means the Ukrainians and the Russians are both going to have to give up some of the territory they currently own.”
A ceasefire on the current frontlines has already been accepted in principle by Ukraine and Zelenskyy called again for an immediate halt to the three-year war. “In Ukraine, we insist on an immediate, full and unconditional ceasefire,” he said, adding that “stopping the killings is the number one task”.
Early on Wednesday, nine people were reportedly killed when a Russian drone hit a bus carrying workers in the Ukrainian city of Marhanets – one of 134 large drones that Ukrainian authorities reported had attacked the country overnight.
Though Ukraine has indicated it is willing to accept de facto Russian occupation of about a fifth of its territory, arguing that it will reunite the country by diplomatic means eventually, it has refused to accept what would be a domestically unpopular partition by accepting Russia’s formal control of Crimea, even if the recognition came from the US.
Other anticipated elements of the deal are that Ukraine would be prevented by a US veto from joining Nato, a point largely accepted by a reluctant Kyiv. Another, that future security guarantees would be provided by a UK and French-led “coalition of the willing” made up of 30 countries, has not been accepted by Russia.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia continued to oppose the presence of European peacekeeping forces, which Ukraine sees as the only viable alternative to Nato membership for ensuring its security.
Peskov said there were “many nuances” surrounding negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine and that the positions of the various parties involved had yet to be brought closer – suggesting, from a Russian perspective, that the deal was not yet agreed.
Initial reports on Tuesday had suggested Russia was willing to trade territory it does not control in Ukraine – in effect, fresh air – for a US recognition of its seizure of Crimea, in what would be a formal acknowledgment that it is possible to change borders by force, creating an extraordinary post-second world war precedent.
Russia may be banking on the idea that Ukraine is weary after more than three years of war and that its proposal is a reasonable counter to western suggestions, backed by the US, Ukraine and Europe, that there should be an immediate and full ceasefire to allow other wider negotiations to take place.
