Relations between Ukraine and the US have plunged after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused to accept an American peace plan that involved giving up sovereignty over Crimea, leading to an angry response on social media from US President Donald Trump.
Peace talks on Ukraine had stumbled on Wednesday after Kyiv refused to agree to Washington’s proposals to give up the territory Russia seized in 2014 and from its 2022 invasion.
“Ukraine will not legally recognise the occupation of Crimea, Mr Zelenskyy told The Wall Street Journal. “There’s nothing to talk about here.”
The report clearly incensed Mr Trump, who posted a 259-word tirade on his Truth Social media account.
He accused Mr Zelenskyy of wanting to prolong the war with his statement being “very harmful” to peace negotiations that had stumbled in London on Wednesday.
In a reference to the infamous White House dressing-down of Mr Zelenskyy in February, Mr Trump said that while they were very close to a peace deal “the man with no cards to play” should now, finally, get it done.
Crimea, he said, had already been lost to Russia “under the auspices of President Barack Hussein Obama” in 2014 and it was “not even a point of discussion”.
“If he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it 11 years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired?” he asked, even though Mr Zelenskyy was not president during the invasion.
Mr Trump accused him of “inflammatory statements” that make “it so difficult to settle this war”.
While he made no threat of withdrawing US intelligence and equipment support for Ukraine, something he temporarily did after the White House meeting that severely affected military operations, it is certainly a card that he could play.
“The situation for Ukraine is dire – he can have peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole country,” Mr Trump said.
He added that he had “nothing to do with Russia” but just wanted to save 5,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers being killed each week “for no reason whatsoever”.
Mr Trump claimed that Mr Zelenskyy’s position would “do nothing but prolong the killing field, and nobody wants that".
“We are very close to a deal,” he said. He wanted both countries to “get out of this complete and total mess that would have never started if I were president”, he added.
Later on Wednesday, Mr Trump said that he would not meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saudi Arabia but would meet him shortly after.
Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, tried to limit damage after their talks by saying they “reiterated their strong support for President Trump’s commitment to stopping the killing and achieving a just and lasting peace”.
The discussions with America and Ukraine had been “productive and successful” and “significant progress was made on reaching a common position on next steps”. They added that there would be further talks “soon”.
Ukraine insisted on Wednesday that it is committed to peace talks despite refusing to accept Washington's proposal to give up the sovereignty of Crimea.
US Vice President JD Vance threatened to abandon negotiations if a deal was not reached soon. “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,” Mr Vance said in India, where he is on a four-day visit.
He said it was time to take “one of the final steps, which is … the party saying we're going to stop the killing, we're going to freeze the territorial lines at some level close to where they are today”.
That followed a significant downgrade of a ceasefire summit in London when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio cancelled his trip after Ukraine indicated it was unwilling to give up the territory seized by Russia in 2014.
The American demand, which was said to have been welcomed in Moscow, was decried by a Ukrainian political source as “not diplomacy, but blackmail”.
The National understands Kyiv is still refusing to give up territory – something that would need to be voted on in a referendum – which would derail Mr Trump’s plans to win a peace deal in Ukraine within 100 days of being in office.
“We emphasised that we are committed to the peace efforts of US President Donald Trump,” Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak said after talks in London with representatives of Kyiv's allies. “We are grateful to our partners for their firm support and common desire to end the war as soon as possible.”
Peace without surrender
But the London summit went ahead yesterday with just Britain’s Foreign Secretary and Defence Secretary meeting their Ukrainian equivalents, in discussions that probably focused more on helping Kyiv continue the fight against Moscow rather than ending it.
That viewpoint was bluntly put by Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister, who said that “Ukraine is ready to negotiate – but not to surrender”.
“There will be no agreement that hands Russia the stronger foundations it needs to regroup and return with greater violence,” Ms Svyrydenko wrote on X.
She reiterated Mr Zelenskyy’s call for a full ceasefire as a first step but also warned that Ukraine’s people would “not accept a frozen conflict disguised as peace” and would “never recognise the occupation of Crimea”.
Washington’s apparent willingness to accept Moscow’s seizure of Crimea in 2014 also breached a central principle of international law since 1945 that no recognition can be made of a country’s annexation of another’s territory.
Searching for peace
The US side was led by Gen Keith Kellogg, Mr Trump’s official envoy on Ukraine, with reports suggesting that the plan presented to officials at the meeting would allow Russia to keep nearly all the territory it seized during the 2022 invasion in eastern and southern Ukraine as well as land taken in 2014.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, diplomatically swerved the American plan saying that he was “grateful to the UK for its leadership and support” and that the London discussions would focus on “ways to strengthen Ukraine and guarantee long-term peace and security”.
Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy said that it had been a “valuable meeting” that came at a “critical moment for our security”.
“We are working at pace with US, Ukraine and European allies to end the war and secure a just and lasting peace,” he added.
Mr Rubio earlier wrote that his team was “looking forward to substantive and good technical meetings with Ukrainian and UK counterparts”, and that he would reschedule his trip to London “in the coming months”.
Mr Trump, who had said that a peace agreement would be struck by the end of this week, will now send his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to Moscow later this week for his fourth meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, given Ukraine's unwillingness to make major concessions on territory and Russia’s failure to compromise, it is highly unlikely that any deal will be reached.
That will probably mean that the war continues, with Russia maintaining its attritional and incremental advance while Ukraine seeks military support beyond America – probably from Europe.
US peace plan
The reported American proposal essentially froze the front line and allows Russia to keep all seized territory bar two small areas. It would also leave Ukraine without any US security guarantees.
An immediate ceasefire would be followed by direct talks between Ukraine and Russia, which Mr Zelenskyy is understood to have accepted.
Ukraine would not be able to join Nato but could seek membership of the EU under the deal.
Britain, France and other European countries would be able to send a deterrence force to Ukraine although it is unclear if there would be any US security back-up.
In exchange it appears Russia would have to abandon its ambitions for a demilitarised Ukraine as Kyiv could continue to build its armed forces and receive weapons from Europe.
The deal would also include a minerals agreement between Ukraine and the US in which the countries would share profits from the industry.
Economic influence
The Moscow Times reported that Mr Putin wished to use economic incentives to influence Washington while it is not significantly interested in ending the conflict as it continues to make incremental gains in Ukraine, albeit at a high cost in troops and equipment.
The independent newspaper said that Russian officials envisaged Moscow either agreeing to a US ceasefire in exchange for concessions or blaming Ukraine if peace talks collapse.
“Probably it is not worth setting any rigid time frames and trying to get a settlement, a viable settlement, in a short-time frame,” said Dmitry Peskov, Mr Putin’s spokesman.
Western sources have indicated that while the proposal will be put to the Ukrainians on Wednesday it is highly unlikely any deal will be made, with Kyiv instead proposing its own plan for peace.
