
Ukraine has not abandoned Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014, Volodymyr Zelensky emphasizes, giving his response to Donald Trump.
"Our position has not changed: only the people of Ukraine have the right to decide which territories are Ukrainian," Zelensky said from Kiev, adding that his country's Constitution stipulates that territories temporarily occupied by Russia belong to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, in Trump's statements to TIME magazine, the US president not only blamed Kiev for starting the conflict, but also announced "peace plans" that, according to reports, envisage the transfer of approximately 20% of Ukrainian territory to Russia.
“I think the war started when they started talking about NATO membership,” the US president said. In the same vein, he openly stated that “Crimea will remain in Russia,” referring to the Ukrainian peninsula illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014.
Talks held in London in the middle of the week went nowhere, and given that Ukraine does not seem to be backing down from its red lines – however, there are signals coming from Russia that they may discuss it directly with Russia. At least that was one of the things discussed on Friday between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump’s envoy.
The last time Russia and Ukraine sat down at the same negotiating table was in 2022, a few weeks after the war began. They were established without any follow-up. A few months later, Zelensky completely cut off all contact with the Russian president.