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Trump says he believes Zelensky is ready to give up Crimea to Russia

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Trump says he believes Zelensky is ready to give up Crimea to Russia
Crimean Tatars community in Ukraine carries a giant Crimean Tatar flag at a rally to the Crimean Tatars Flag Day celebration in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 26, 2020. (STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

U.S. President Donald Trump said on April 27 that he believes President Volodymyr Zelensky is prepared to give up Crimea to Russia as part of a potential peace agreement, despite Kyiv’s consistent rejection of similar proposals.

When asked whether he thought Zelensky was willing to cede the peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, Trump responded: "I think so."

Earlier this week, Trump accused Zelensky of undermining negotiations after the Ukrainian president rejected recognizing Russia’s annexation of Crimea as part of a potential peace agreement.

On April 22, Zelensky rejected the reported U.S. proposal to recognize Russia’s claim to Crimea, saying, "There’s nothing to talk about here. This is against our constitution."

Zelensky warned that any discussion of Crimea risks shifting negotiations into a framework dictated by the Kremlin. He said such proposals play directly into Russian President Vladimir Putin's "game."

Article 2 of Ukraine's constitution states that sovereignty "extends throughout its entire territory," which "within its present border is indivisible and inviolable." Any change in Ukraine's territory must be decided in a nationwide referendum authorised by the Ukrainian parliament.

Trump also voiced frustration with Russia and urged Putin to stop attacks and finalize a U.S.-brokered peace deal to end the war in Ukraine.

"Well, I want him to stop shooting, sit down and sign a deal," Trump told reporters when asked about his expectations for Putin. "We have the confines of a deal, I believe, and I want him to sign it and be done with it," he added, signaling growing impatience as negotiations stall.

Trump’s comments came after Russia launched its deadliest attack on Kyiv in nine months, with missile and drone strikes killing 12 people and injuring 90, including six children. "I was very disappointed that missiles were flying, [fired] by Russia," Trump said.

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Olena Goncharova

Head of North America desk

Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.

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"I don't know if it’s gonna affect Russia, because he (Russian President Vladimir Putin) wants to obviously probably keep the war going, but we're gonna put tariffs and various things," U.S. President Donald Trump said.

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