President Donald Trump of the United States and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Wednesday clashed again on efforts to end the three-year-old war in Ukraine, with the US leader chiding Zelenskyy for refusing to recognize Russia's occupation of Crimea.
US Vice President JD Vance said it was time for Russia and Ukraine to either agree to a US peace proposal or for the United States to walk away from this process, echoing a warning from Trump last week.
Vance, while speaking to reporters in India, 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.
Recall that Trump, since taking office in January, has upended US policy toward the war in Ukraine, pressing Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire while easing pressure on Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor in 2022.
On Tuesday, Zelenskyy reiterated that Ukraine would never cede Crimea to Russia, which seized control of the peninsula in 2014 in a move that was condemned internationally.
“There's nothing to talk about here. This is against our constitution,” he said.
The Republican, who argued with Zelenskyy in a disastrous Oval Office meeting in March, called this an inflammatory statement that made peace harder to achieve.
According to him in a social media post, Crimea was lost years ago and is not even a point of discussion.
Later in a post on X, Zelenskyy acknowledged that the London talks among US, Ukrainian and European officials were marked by high emotions but expressed hope that future joint work would lead to peace.
The Ukrainian leader pledged again that Ukraine would abide by its constitution, saying he was sure Kyiv's partners, in particular the United States, would act in line with its strong decisions.
He attached to his post a 2018 Crimea Declaration from Mike Pompeo, Trump's secretary of state during his first term, which said: “The United States rejects Russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea and pledges to maintain this policy until Ukraine’s territorial integrity is restored.”
Trump, who promised during his election campaign to end the war within his first 24 hours back in the White House, scolded Zelenskyy and said on Truth Social the US was trying to stop the killing in Ukraine and that they were very close to a deal for peace.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said he thought the London talks had gone pretty well, although he also said, in apparent reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskiy: “We've got to get two people, two strong people, two smart people, to agree. And as soon as they agree, the killing will stop.”
