US President Donald Trump has accused Volodymyr Zelensky of harming peace negotiations, after the Ukrainian president said Kyiv would not recognise Russian control of Crimea.

Writing on Truth Social, Trump claimed a deal to end the war was ‘very close’, but that Zelensky’s refusal to accept US terms ‘will do nothing but prolong’ the conflict.

Earlier, US Vice-President JD Vance laid out the US vision for a deal, saying it would ‘freeze the territorial lines [...] close to where they are today’.

Ukraine has long said it will not give up Crimea, a southern peninsula illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.

Vance said the deal would mean Ukraine and Russia ‘are both going to have to give up some of the territory they currently own’.

The administration has yet to publicly offer specifics about what geographic concessions would have to be made.

When asked by reporters at the White House about whether the administration was looking to recognise Russia’s sovereignty over Crimea, Trump said he just wanted to see the war end.

‘I have no favourites. I don’t want to have any favourites. I want to have a deal done,’ he said.

Recognising Russia’s illegal occupation of Crimea would not only be politically impossible for Zelensky to accept, it would also be contrary to post-war international legal norms that borders should not be changed by force.

He has consistently rejected the suggestion that his country give up its claim to the Crimean Peninsula.

‘There’s nothing to talk about here. This is against our constitution,’ he said.

Overnight, Ukraine reported a Russian missile and drone attack on several regions.

In the capital Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said two people were killed and 54 injured, including children and a pregnant woman. Drone wreckage triggered several fires, and a number of people were trapped under the rubble of a residential building, he said.

In Kharkiv, in the north-east, blasts were reported in the city.

Nine people were earlier killed and dozens more wounded in the eastern Ukrainian city of Marhanets when a Russian drone hit a bus carrying workers.

The back-and-forth comments from Trump and Zelensky are the latest chapter in an often fractious relationship.

Trump said on Wednesday in the Oval Office that he found it easier to deal with Russia compared to Ukraine.

‘I think Russia is ready,’ Trump said, noting he believed they were nearing a deal with the Kremlin but aren’t there with Ukraine. ‘I thought it might be easier to deal with Zelensky. So far, it’s been harder.’

He left open the idea of meeting with the Ukrainian leader when world leaders gather for Pope Francis’s funeral on Saturday.

On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly said he could end the Ukraine-Russia war in one day, but as he approaches his 100th day in office, a truce remains elusive.

‘The president is frustrated,’ White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. 

‘His patience is running very thin.’

Vance warned on Wednesday that the US would ‘walk away’ from its deal-making role if Russia and Ukraine do not come to an agreement - echoing comments last week by Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

US officials also pulled out of a London meeting to focus on talks in Moscow, as the pace of diplomacy to end the war quickens.

The London talks between officials from the UK, France, Germany, Ukraine and the US aimed at securing a ceasefire were downgraded this week after Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff pulled out.

Instead, Trump’s Ukraine envoy Gen Keith Kellogg attended the talks in London, and Witkoff will head to Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin for the fourth time.

British diplomats said they were not entirely clear why Rubio and Witkoff had pulled out of the London talks.

The US state department blamed logistical reasons, but it was clear the decision was last-minute and left the Foreign Office wrongfooted.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Yuriy Sak, an adviser to Ukraine’s ministry of strategic industries, said Ukrainian negotiators would attend the London meeting on a ‘very clear, narrow mandate’ to achieve a ceasefire that will ‘pave the way for further talks’.

Russia intensified attacks on Ukraine since Wednesday followed a brief lull over Easter when it halted air strikes.

Putin called a temporary ceasefire for the Easter weekend but UK Defence Secretary John Healey told the House of Commons on Tuesday that British military intelligence had found no evidence of a let-up in attacks.

‘While Putin has said he declared an Easter truce, he broke it,’ he said. ‘While Putin says he wants peace, he has rejected a full ceasefire; and while Putin says he wants to put an end to the fighting, he continues to play for time in the negotiations.’

It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of people have been killed or injured on all sides since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, and nearly seven million Ukrainians are currently listed as refugees worldwide.

The conflict goes back more than a decade, to 2014, when Ukraine’s pro-Russian president was overthrown. Russia then annexed Crimea and backed militants in bloody fighting in eastern Ukraine.

Source: BBC
--Agencies