Donald Trump has accused Volodymyr Zelensky of ‘harming peace negotiations’ with Russia and said ‘the man with no cards to play should get it done’.Â
The US President slammed Zelensky over his refusal to formally cede Crimea to Russia.
‘Zelensky’s inflammatory remarks are what make it exceedingly challenging to resolve this conflict,’ Trump stated on Truth Social, while also mentioning that ‘We are on the verge of reaching an agreement.’
Trump made a commitment to bring an end to this ‘chaotic and absolute disaster,’ reiterating his belief that the war between Russia and Ukraine would not have occurred had he been in office instead of Joe Biden.
Zelensky, during a recent press conference, declared that Ukraine would refuse to ‘legitimize the occupation of Crimea’ as a condition in any negotiation with the Kremlin.
Trump said the Ukrainian President’s statement was ‘very harmful’ to peace talks and that ‘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?’.Â
The Kremlin took control of Crimea when it illegally annexed the peninsula in 2014.Â
‘He [Zelensky] has nothing to boast about!,’ Trump wrote.Â
US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky during an awkward exchange in the Oval Office of the White House — February 28, 2025
Zelensky delivers a press conference in Kyiv. The wartime leader said Ukraine would ‘not legally recognise the occupation of Crimea’as part of any deal with Russia — April 22, 2025
‘The situation for Ukraine is dire — He can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country. I have nothing to do with Russia, but have much to do with wanting to save, on average, five thousand Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week, who are dying for no reason whatsoever.’
Trump accused the wartime leader of prolonging the ‘killing field’ and said ‘nobody wants that’.Â
Ukraine said today that it was ‘committed’ to Washington-led efforts to end the war with Russia after US Vice President JD Vance threatened to abandon negotiations if a deal was not reached soon.
‘We emphasised that we are committed to the peace efforts of US President Donald Trump,’ Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak said after talks in London with representatives of Kyiv’s allies.
He added: ‘We are grateful to our partners for their firm support and common desire to end the war as soon as possible.’
Vice President JD Vance has warned that the United States would ‘walk away’ unless a peace deal is agreed.Â
‘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,’ Vance told reporters in India.
US media reported that Trump was ready to accept recognition of annexed land in Crimea as Russian territory, and Vance said land swaps would be fundamental to any deal.
Trump accused Zelensky of prolonging the ‘killing field’ and said ‘nobody wants that’. The US President is pictured here at the White House on April 23, 2025
Vice President JD Vance, speaking to media today in India, has warned that the US would ‘walk away’ unless a peace deal is agreed
‘That means the Ukrainians and the Russians are both going to have to give up some of the territory they currently own,’ he added.
The reports said the proposal was first raised at a meeting with European nations in Paris last week.
But French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said today that ‘Ukraine’s territorial integrity and European aspirations are very strong requirements for Europeans’.
The latest round of diplomacy comes after a fresh wave of Russian air strikes that shattered a brief Easter truce.
A Russian drone strike on a bus transporting workers in the southeastern city of Marganets killed nine people and wounded at least 30 more, the Dnipropetrovsk regional governor said Wednesday.
Ukrainian authorities also reported strikes in the regions of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Poltava and Odesa.
In light of the attacks, Zelensky called for an ‘immediate, full, and unconditional ceasefire’.
In Russia, one person was reported wounded by shelling in the Belgorod region.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy had been due to lead a meeting of foreign ministers in London on Wednesday but his ministry said the talks had been downgraded to ‘official level’ – a sign of the difficulties surrounding the negotiations.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that ‘it has not yet been possible to reconcile positions on any issues, which is why this meeting did not take place’.
US Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg was still expected to attend, as was Macron’s diplomatic adviser Emmanuel Bonne.
Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Zelensky, said he had arrived in London with Defence Minister Rustem Umerov and Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga, who was ‘likely’ to meet Lammy.
‘Despite everything, we will work for peace,’ Yermak wrote on Telegram.
A Ukraine presidency source later said that the delegation would meet Kellogg, and ‘there will be more meetings with Europeans’.
US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff is to visit Moscow this week.
According to the Financial Times, Vladimir Putin told Witkoff he was prepared to halt the invasion and freeze the current front line if Russia’s sovereignty over the Crimean Peninsula, annexed in 2014, was recognised.
Peskov responded by saying that ‘a lot of fakes are being published at the moment’, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.
Zelensky said Tuesday that his country would be ready for direct talks with Russia only after a ceasefire, though the Kremlin has said it cannot rush into a ceasefire deal.
Trump promised on the campaign trail to strike a deal between Moscow and Kyiv in 24 hours but has since failed to secure concessions from Putin to halt his troops in Ukraine.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had presented a US plan to end the war and discussed it with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov during a phone conversation after the Paris meeting last week.
Both Rubio and Trump have warned since that the United States could walk away from peace talks unless it saw quick progress.
In response to the US ultimatums, a spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters ‘it has to be up to Ukraine to decide its future’ and ‘we will never walk away from Ukraine’.
Rubio had said in Paris he would go to London if he thought his attendance could be useful.
But Lammy wrote on X late Tuesday that he had instead had a ‘productive call’ with Rubio.
Trump proposed an unconditional ceasefire in March, the principle of which was accepted by Kyiv but rejected by Putin.
The White House welcomed a separate agreement by both sides to halt attacks on energy infrastructure for 30 days but the Kremlin has said it considers that moratorium to have expired.
