Donald Trump has lashed out at Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, warning that if he does not accept a peace deal he will lose his country.
Mr Trump said a Russia-Ukraine agreement was very close – but accused his Ukrainian counterpart of prolonging the “killing field” after he refused to cede Crimea to Vladimir Putin as part of a potential peace plan.
Claiming the territory had been lost for good in 2014 and was not up for discussion, Mr Trump accused Mr Zelensky of making an end to the war harder to achieve.
Putting pressure on the Ukrainian president to give up land, Mr Trump branded Mr Zelensky’s words “an inflammatory statement”, writing on his social media platform Truth Social: “This statement is very harmful to the peace negotiations with Russia…
“Nobody is asking Zelensky to recognise 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?”
Mr Zelensky had insisted on Tuesday that Ukraine would not recognise Russia’s occupation of Crimea under any agreement, saying: “There is nothing to talk about – it is our land, the land of the Ukrainian people.”
Mr Trump added: “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.”
In talks last week in Paris, US officials presented a proposed deal that allowed Russia to keep control of occupied Ukrainian territory, according to a European official.
Hours before Mr Trump’s outburst, his vice-president JD Vance also upped the pressure on Mr Zelensky, threatening that the US would abandon peace talks unless both sides agreed to Washington’s proposals.
Mr Vance said: “We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say ‘yes’ or for the United States to walk away from this process.”
He said it was “a very fair proposal” that would “freeze the territorial lines at some level close to where they are today”, with both sides having to give up some territory they currently hold.
He issued his warning after a high-level summit in London to discuss the terms of a deal was abruptly downgraded when Mr Trump’s top diplomat, US secretary of state Marco Rubio, pulled out of the meeting.
Foreign secretary David Lammy announced the talks would involve only lower-ranking officials after Mr Rubio was unable to attend because of a scheduling issue.
Mr Rubio had indicated that Wednesday’s meeting could be decisive in determining whether the Trump administration remained involved, and his cancellation raised doubts about the direction of the negotiations.
But Ukraine’s defence minister Rustem Umerov said after the meeting that his side had productive talks with US envoy Keith Kellogg.
“We talked about our consistent position regarding a ceasefire, also about security guarantees. For my part, I believe the meeting was very productive and successful,” Mr Umerov said.
Mr Zelensky said on Wednesday that Ukraine was ready for any format of negotiations that might bring a ceasefire and open the door to full peace negotiations.
Commenting on those attending the London talks, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that they had so far “failed to bring their positions closer on some issues”.
He said the Kremlin was still in consultations with American officials.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to visit Moscow again later this week, according to Russian officials.
Even achieving a limited, 30-day ceasefire has been beyond the reach of negotiators, as both sides have continued to attack each other along the 998km (620 miles) front line and launch long-range strikes.
Eight women and a man were killed on Wednesday when a Russian drone struck a bus in Marganets, in eastern Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, governor Serhii Lysak said. More than 40 people were injured, he said.