US President Donald Trump has claimed that Crimea, which is a part of Ukraine, would stay with Russia, a move which is seen as a new pressure tactic on Volodymyr Zelenskyy to make concessions to end the war.
“Crimea will stay with Russia,” Trump said in a Time magazine interview published on Friday. “Zelenskyy understands that,” he said, adding, “and everybody understands that it’s been with them for a long time.”
The comments came amid ongoing tensions over Crimea, a strategically important peninsula along the Black Sea that Russia seized in 2014 during President Barack Obama’s administration, years before the full-scale invasion that began in 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,” he said. “But this was given by Obama. This wasn’t given by Trump,” he added.
He accused Zelenskyy of prolonging the war by resisting negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Meanwhile, Trump has also slammed Putin for its continued assault on Ukarine saying, “I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!”
During recent peace discussions, Russia struck the city of Sumy, killing over 30 civilians celebrating Palm Sunday, launched drone attacks on Odesa, and bombarded Zaporizhzhia with powerful glide bombs.
Western European leaders have accused Putin of stalling negotiations and attempting to seize more Ukrainian territory while his military maintains momentum on the battlefield. On Thursday, Zelenskyy pointed out that Ukraine had accepted a US ceasefire proposal 44 days ago as the first step toward peace talks, but Russian attacks have continued.
