CNN
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President Donald Trump slammed Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday for his comments that Ukraine wouldn’t recognize Russian control of Crimea, calling the remarks “very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia.”
“It’s inflammatory statements like Zelenskyy’s that makes it so difficult to settle this War. He has nothing to boast about! The situation for Ukraine is dire — He can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country,” he posted on Truth Social.
Any move to recognize Russia’s control of Crimea would reverse a decade of US policy and could upset the widely held post-World War Two consensus that international borders should not be changed by force.
Russian missiles struck Ukraine’s capital city Kyiv and the country’s second largest city Kharkiv hours after Trump’s post, Ukrainian authorities said, with at least nine people killed and some 70 wounded in the latest attacks.
Trump’s comments came after a meeting in London aimed at bringing about an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine had been downgraded after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he wouldn’t attend.
Rubio had been expected to take part in the discussions with Ukrainian, UK and European officials, but State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Tuesday that he would no longer attend due to “logistical issues,” though a US official and two European diplomats familiar with the matter said the top US diplomat didn’t go because the administration did not feel that they were at a decisive point in the ongoing talks and Rubio didn’t feel attending would be the best use of his time.
“It was better to let talks play out than create the illusion that a breakthrough was imminent,” said one of the European diplomats.
“Emotions have run high today,” Zelensky said on X Wednesday after the talks.
In what seemed to be an indirect response to Trump’s criticism of Zelensky being unwilling to recognize Russian control of Crimea, Zelensky vowed Kyiv would abide by its constitution: “Ukraine will always act in accordance with its Constitution and we are absolutely sure that our partners – in particular the USA – will act in line with its strong decisions.”
Zelensky shared a screenshot of former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s 2018 Crimea Declaration which rejected Russia’s occupation of the peninsula.
Britain’s Foreign Office had confirmed earlier on Wednesday that the meeting would take place at a lower level. “Official level talks will continue but these are closed to media,” the department said in a message to journalists.
The developments throw new uncertainty over the diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war. The United States has become increasingly steadfast in its push to force Kyiv to an agreement, but Ukraine is adamant that it will not give up Crimea, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014, or parts of eastern Ukraine that were captured following Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
US Vice President JD Vance threatened to abandon negotiations on Wednesday, telling reporters during a visit to India: “We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say yes or for the US to walk away from this process. We’ve engaged in an extraordinary amount of diplomacy, of on the ground work.”
But Ukraine’s European allies, particularly Britain and France, have been hoping to bridge the divide. Wednesday’s talks were due to follow a meeting in Paris last week in which officials from the US, the United Kingdom, France and Germany discussed the American framework for a ceasefire.
After Rubio reversed plans to attend the latest talks, Bruce said President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, would represent the US in London instead.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia on Friday, a US official said.
The US proposal that has caused deadlock includes recognizing Russia’s control of Crimea, the southern Ukrainian peninsula illegally annexed by Moscow, an official familiar with the framework told CNN. It would also put a ceasefire in place along the front lines of the war, the official said.
Zelensky made clear Tuesday that he was open to talks with Russia, but that Kyiv would not accept a deal that recognizes Moscow’s control of Crimea.
“Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea,” he told reporters. “There is nothing to talk about. It is against our constitution.”
Asked to clarify about whether he meant the US wanted to freeze the territorial lines where they are, Vance said Wednesday, “No, I didn’t say that. What I said is the current line, somewhere close to them is where you’re ultimately, I think, going to draw the new lines in the conflict. Now of course, that means the Ukrainians and the Russians are both going to have to give up some of the territory they currently own. There’s gonna have to be some territorial swaps.”
The war has resumed with full force this week, following a surprise ceasefire over the Easter weekend that both sides accused each other of breaching.
The talks in London were scheduled as US officials publicly voiced frustration over the lack of progress at bringing an end to the war.
Trump has said he would “have to see an enthusiasm to want to end it” from both sides for the US to continue negotiations, after Rubio warned last week that Washington could walk away from its efforts to end the conflict if there were no signs of progress.
The broad framework has been presented to both sides, Rubio and the State Department have said, to determine whether the differences can be narrowed in a short timeframe. There are still pieces of the framework to be filled out and the US plans to work with the Europeans and the Ukrainians on that this week, the official told CNN.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday the negotiations were “hopefully moving in the right direction,” and declined to say what “stepping back” from the peace efforts might look like for the US.
Moscow has previously stalled on ceasefire negotiations and rejected an earlier US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire agreed to by Kyiv.
However, under pressure from Trump, Ukraine and Russia have expressed willingness to negotiate for the first time in years; the two sides have not held direct talks since the early weeks of Moscow’s invasion in 2022.
On Monday, Putin raised the prospect of holding direct talks with Ukraine about a ceasefire that would halt striking civilian targets, but said further discussion was needed on how to define a civilian target.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later confirmed the Russian president’s remarks, saying “(Putin) had in mind negotiations and discussions with the Ukrainian side,” Reuters reported, citing Russia’s Interfax news agency.
