President Trump issued a stark warning to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, saying Kyiv’s leader was in a “dire” situation and “can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country.”
Trump, 78, was responding to Zelensky telling reporters Tuesday that “Ukraine will not legally recognize the [Russian] occupation of Crimea” — a key part of a US-proposed peace plan under discussion with Ukrainian, British and European officials in London Wednesday, and a condition that has long been a red line for Kyiv.
“This statement is very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia in that Crimea was lost years ago under the auspices of President Barack Hussein Obama, and is not even a point of discussion,” the president seethed on Truth Social.
Trump and Zelensky’s relationship has been heated as the two spar over the Ukraine war. AFP via Getty Images
“Nobody is asking Zelenskyy to recognize Crimea as Russian Territory but, if he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it eleven years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired?”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters hours later that Trump was “frustrated” and “his patience is running very thin” with his Ukranian counterpart.
“in order to make a good deal, both sides have to walk away a little bit unhappy,” Leavitt said, “and unfortunately, President Zelensky has been trying to litigate this peace negotiation in the press, and that’s unacceptable to the president. These should be closed door negotiations. The President’s national security team, his advisers, have exuded significant time, energy and effort to try to bring this war to an end. The American taxpayer has funded billions of dollars in this effort, and enough is enough.”
“He wants to do what’s right for the world,” the press secretary went on. “He wants to see peace. He wants to see the killing stop but you need both sides of the war willing to do that, and unfortunately President Zelensky seems to be moving in the wrong direction.”
Trump has repeatedly criticized Obama for not intervening when Russia annexed Crimea. Kyiv has been working since 2014 to get its territory back and expel Russians from eastern Ukraine.
Now, the US is proposing formally recognizing the Black Sea peninsula as Russian territory — which would represent a major change to American foreign policy, a senior administration official told The Post.
“There’s a doctrine out there called the Welles Declaration, that goes back to 1940, that says that the United States will not acknowledge the occupation of a foreign land by another nation,” the official said.
What Russia gets
- Formal US recognition of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula as Russian territory — a major departure from Washington’s longstanding Welles doctrine, which refuses to acknowledge annexed territory as belonging to the seizing power.
- “De facto” recognition of Russia’s occupation of four regions in eastern Ukraine, meaning the US would acknowledge Moscow controls the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts while formally considering them Ukrainian land.
- A pledge that the US would not support Ukraine becoming a member of NATO.
- Lifting sanctions to boost Russia’s economy, which has struggled throughout its war on Ukraine.
- Opportunities for more economic cooperation with the US, especially in the energy and industrial fields.
What Ukraine gets
- Assistance from European military forces as “a robust security guarantee” following a cease-fire. The US would not be involved in this measure.
- Russia would return a small portion of Ukraine’s Kharkiv oblast currently occupied by Moscow.
- Navigation rights in the Dnieper River, which runs along the front lines.
- Assistance in post-war rebuilding, though it is unclear from where that funding would come.
“We don’t say that this is your result, but we acknowledge the fact that it’s annexed physically, but you don’t own the land you’re on.”
That doctrine, declared 85 years ago, was created to push back against the Soviet Union’s annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The US was the leader in influencing other nations to do the same, and more than 50 nations followed suit.
The US is proposing formally recognizing Crimea as Russian Territory Danylo Antoniuk/Ukrinform/INSTARimages
A US official insisted to The Post Friday that the US has not dropped its commitment to the doctrine “at all,” though that would change if Trump’s peace plan was adopted.
Trump again refrained in Wednesday’s message from criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin over the lack of progress on a peace agreement.
Throughout the attempted peace process, the president has not issued any coercive punishments to Moscow to bring them to the table, but briefly cut intelligence sharing and military aid to Ukraine in an attempt to force them into compliance.
Instead, Trump blamed Zelensky for speaking out against the acknowledgment of Crimea by the US.
“It’s inflammatory statements like Zelenskyy’s that makes it so difficult to settle this War,” Trump went on. “He has nothing to boast about!”
The president also referenced in his post a notorious Feb. 28 shouting match in the Oval Office between himself, Zelensky and Vice President JD Vance.
Trump didn’t criticize Russia’s Putin in his message on Truth Social. POOL/AFP via Getty Images
“I have nothing to do with Russia, but have much to do with wanting to save, on average, five thousand Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week, who are dying for no reason whatsoever,” the wrote.
“The statement made by Zelenskyy today will do nothing but prolong the ‘killing field,’ and nobody wants that! We are very close to a Deal, but the man with ‘no cards to play’ should now, finally, GET IT DONE.”
Administration officials have suggested that the US would be willing to walk away from its peace efforts in eastern Europe if an agreement is not reached this week, with the London talks widely seen as the last best chance for significant progress.
When asked if Trump would wash his hands of the conflict, Leavitt answered: “Not by the end of the day today, but the President has maintained that his frustration is growing and he needs to see this thing come to an end.”