In March 2014, Russia invaded and subsequently annexed the Crimean Peninsula, taking it from Ukraine when president Barack Obama was in power. Now president Trump is mad at Ukraine for not recognizing Russian occupation of Crimea. Ukraine is supposed to be a US ally while Russia is the top US adversary . US under president Biden spent hundreds of Billions of taxpayers money on helping Ukraine defends itself against Russian invasion
Washington-President Donald Trump slammed Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday for his comments that Ukraine wouldn’t recognize Russian occupation 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.
His comments came a few hours 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.”
While Ukraine accepted Trump’s ceasefire proposal, Russia continues to ignore it
CNN