According to McIntyre, the arguments presented this week reflect the opinion handed down just nine months ago. “Now the starting premise is that Israel is illegally occupying all of Palestine,” McIntyre said.
U.S. President Donald Trumpin an interview published Friday in Time magazine: “Crimea will stay with Russia. Zelenskyy understands that, and everybody understands that it’s been with them for a long time.”
Asked by reporters on Sunday if Zelenskyy was ready to give up Crimea, Trump said, “Oh, I think so. Crimea was 12 years ago. That was President Obama that gave it up without a shot being fired.”His comments offered the latest example of the U.S. leader pressuring Ukraine to make concessions to endwhile it remains under siege. Trump has also accused Zelenskyy of
by resisting negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.along the Black Sea in southern Ukraine, was seized by Russia years before the full-scale invasion that began in 2022. The Russian takeover followed large protests that ousted former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who had refused to sign an association agreement with the European Union.
In the lead-up to peace talks, Ukrainian officials told The Associated Press for months that they expect Crimea and other Ukrainian territory controlled by Russia to be among Kyiv’s concessions in the event of any deal. But Zelenskyy has said on multiple occasions that formally surrendering the land has always been a red line.
Elements of Trump’s peace proposal would see the U.S. formally recognizing Crimea as Russian and de facto accepting Moscow’s rule over occupied Ukrainian territories, according to a senior European official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic discussions.Ukrainians in Kyiv scoffed at Putin’s move.
“There is no trust in any of Putin’s proposals,” said Nazar Lutsenko, a lawyer. He added that “we absolutely want the war to end on terms that are favorable to us, on fair terms.”A soldier with the 156th Brigade, who identified himself only by his first name, Kostiantyn, in keeping with military rules, dismissed the truce as “ridiculous,” adding that perhaps “there will not be such harsh shelling as there is every evening here, but fighting will be conducted in one way or another.”
Student Oleksandra Serpilova viewed the declaration as “another attempt to keep America engaged, to give Trump hope that some kind of negotiations are possible.”Just before the ceasefire announcement, Ukraine and Russia targeted each other with long-range strikes.