Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

US President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, February 28, 2025. Saul Loeb, AFP/File

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1745812706362Screen Shot 2025-04-28 at 11.58.04 AM.png" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">US President Donald Trump and Ukraine&#x27;s President Volodymyr Zelensky meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, February 28, 2025. <em>Saul Loeb, AFP/File</em></span></span></span>WASHINGTON, United States — US President Donald Trump said he believed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was ready to concede Crimea to Russia as part of any ceasefire deal, as talks on a truce entered what Washington called a critical week on Monday.</div><p>Trump also stepped up pressure on Vladimir Putin, saying the Russian president should &quot;stop shooting&quot; and sign an agreement to end the grinding war that started with Moscow&#x27;s February 2022 invasion.</p><p>Trump&#x27;s comments came a day after he met Zelensky during the funeral of Pope Francis, breaking the ice after a major row between the US and Ukrainian leaders at the White House in February.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/4/26/trump-zelensky-meet-on-sidelines-of-popes-funeral-1924">Trump, Zelensky meet on sidelines of pope&#x27;s funeral</a></div><p>&quot;Oh, I think so,&quot; Trump told reporters in Bedminster, New Jersey, when asked whether he thought Zelensky was ready to &quot;give up&quot; Crimea -- despite the Ukrainian president repeatedly saying he never would.</p><p>Trump added that during their talks in the Vatican they had &quot;briefly&quot; discussed the fate of the Black Sea peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014.</p><p>The 78-year-old US president, who boasted before his inauguration that he could halt Russia&#x27;s invasion of Ukraine within one day, launched a diplomatic offensive to stop the fighting after taking office in January.</p><p>Kyiv and western allies have feared that Trump was pivoting towards Moscow&#x27;s position.</p><p>But the US leader has appeared increasingly impatient with Putin in recent days.</p><p>Russia launched drone and missile attacks the night after the Vatican talks, killing four people in regions across eastern Ukraine and wounding more than a dozen.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;STOP SHOOTING&#x27; </strong></div><p>&quot;I want him to stop shooting, sit down, and sign a deal,&quot; Trump said Sunday when asked what he wanted from Putin. &quot;We have the confines of a deal, I believe, and I want him to sign it.&quot;</p><p>The White House has said that without rapid progress, it could walk away from its role as a broker. Trump indicated that he would give the process &quot;two weeks.&quot;</p><p>US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier Sunday stressed the importance of the week ahead.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/4/24/trump-lashes-out-at-zelensky-for-not-accepting-crimea-loss-to-russia-0908">Trump lashes out at Zelensky for not accepting Crimea loss to Russia</a></div><p>&quot;We&#x27;re close, but we&#x27;re not close enough&quot; to a deal to halt the fighting, Rubio told broadcaster NBC. &quot;I think this is going to be a very critical week.&quot;</p><p>But there is still US frustration with both sides, as the war, which has devastated swaths of eastern Ukraine and killed tens of thousands of people, drags on.</p><p>Ukraine launched a &quot;massive&quot; drone attack on Russia&#x27;s Bryansk region on Sunday, killing one civilian and injuring another, the regional governor said.</p><p>Washington has not revealed details of its peace plan, but has suggested freezing the front line and accepting Russian control of Crimea in exchange for an end to hostilities.</p><p>Russia claims to have annexed four eastern and southern territories of war-battered Ukraine since its full-scale invasion three years ago, despite not having full military control over them.</p><p>Russia holds about 20 percent of Ukraine&#x27;s territory, including Crimea.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;TERRITORIAL CONCESSIONS&#x27;</strong></div><p>But Germany&#x27;s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Sunday that Ukraine should not agree to all the steps reportedly set out in the deal proposed by Trump.</p><p>Kyiv knew a ceasefire &quot;may involve territorial concessions,&quot; Pistorius told broadcaster ARD. &quot;But these will certainly not go... as far as they do in the latest proposal from the US president.&quot;</p><p>Europe has pushed for a bigger role in the Ukraine talks, with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer joining Trump and Zelensky briefly for the meeting in Saint Peter&#x27;s Basilica.</p><p>Rubio meanwhile had a phone call Sunday with Russia&#x27;s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the foreign ministry in Moscow said.</p><p>The pair said there were &quot;emerging prerequisites&quot; for starting negotiations towards a long term peace, a statement said.</p><p>Russia insists on keeping the territory it has taken and demands the demilitarization of Kyiv, plus an end to western support.</p><p>In a sign of the war&#x27;s global dimensions, North Korea on Monday confirmed for the first time that it had deployed troops to Russia&#x27;s Kursk region and said its soldiers had helped Moscow reclaim territory there.</p><p>Moscow over the weekend claimed the &quot;liberation&quot; of Kursk, where Kyiv launched a shock cross-border offensive in August 2024, hoping to use land there as a bargaining chip in any peace talks.</p><p>But Zelensky said Sunday that Ukraine&#x27;s army was &quot;maintaining our presence on Russian territory.&quot;</p><div><strong>— By Danny Kemp With Stanislav Doshchitsyn in Kyiv, Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uajSx6qfwK4?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Trump's comments came a day after he met Zelensky during the funeral of Pope Francis, breaking the ice after a major row between the 2 leaders at the White House in February.</p>

Trump's comments came a day after he met Zelensky during the funeral of Pope Francis, breaking the ice after a major row between the 2 leaders at the White House in February.

Trump thinks Zelensky ready to give up Crimea to Russia

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Trump thinks Zelensky ready to give up Crimea to Russia

Agence France-Presse

Published April 28, 2025 12:34 PM PHT

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