When pressed by reporters on April 23, U.S. President Donald Trump declined to weigh in on whether he wants Ukraine to recognize occupied Crimea as Russian territory, calling instead for the end to hostilities.
"I just want to see the war end, I don’t care," Trump told reporters. "If they’re both happy, they both sign an agreement, I have no favorites. I don’t want to have any favorites. I want to have a deal done."
Earlier in the day, Trump claimed in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, that the U.S. is not forcing Ukraine to recognize Crimea as Russian, following reports that a U.S. peace plan includes the U.S. formally recognizing Moscow's illegal annexation of Crimea.
"Nobody is asking (President Volodymyr) Zelensky 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?" Trump wrote on April 23.
Zelensky reaffirmed on April 22 that Ukraine would never legally recognize Russia's control of Crimea.
"There is nothing to talk about. This violates our Constitution. This is our territory, the territory of the people of Ukraine," Zelensky said at a briefing in Kyiv.
"Ukraine will always act in accordance with its Constitution, and we are fully confident that our partners — particularly the United States — will act in line with their strong decisions," another statement from Zelensky on April 23 stated.
While Trump appeared to frame the proposal as something Ukraine could reject, he notably did not deny that the U.S. might move forward with formally recognizing Crimea as Russian territory, something Russia had wanted for years.
Recognition of the annexation would contradict a decade of bipartisan U.S. policy and a 2014 United Nations General Assembly resolution, in which 100 member states declared the seizure illegal.
Trump's claim that Crimea was taken without force is false. During Russia's 2014 annexation, armed Russian troops in unmarked uniforms seized Ukrainian government buildings, military installations, and blockaded bases.
Tim Zadorozhnyy
(Updated: )
