The Ukrainian leader’s refusal to discuss any territorial concessions prolongs the conflict, the US president has said
FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump. © Win McNamee / Getty Images
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky could lose the entirety of his country if he continues stalling talks with Russia, US President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday.
A day earlier, the Ukrainian leader publicly announced that Kiev will not even discuss officially recognizing the Crimean Peninsula as Russian. Washington was reportedly ready to present the idea as part of its peace plan at a meeting with Kiev officials and Ukraine’s European backers on Wednesday, only for the top members of the US delegation to pull out at the last minute.
“This statement is very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia in that Crimea was lost years ago,” Trump wrote.
Crimea’s predominantly ethnic-Russian population voted to join Russia in a referendum in 2014, following the Western-backed Maidan coup in Kiev. The Russian soldiers who suddenly appeared on the peninsula during the bloodless event later became known among locals and the internet as ‘polite people’.
The situation for Ukraine is dire – He can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country.
Trump reiterated his prior assessment that Zelensky has a weak bargaining position in the negotiations. “We are very close to a Deal, but the man with ‘no cards to play’ should now, finally, GET IT DONE,” he wrote.
DETAILS TO FOLLOW