New York: Ahead of his Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Monday, US President Donald Trump suggested that Ukraine should give up claims to territories currently occupied by Russia, even as Zelensky prepared for talks alongside a group of European leaders.
It was accompanied by a stern admonishment, “President Zelensky of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight.”
But there was no matching ultimatum to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, with whom Trump held a summit on Friday.
In his Truth Social post Sunday, setting pre-conditions, Trump said, “No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and no going into NATO by Ukraine.”
Trump was referring to the Russian occupation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 without military resistance while Barack Obama was the President, and implying that in a settlement of the war, Kyiv would have to give up claims to it.
It could also be interpreted that Russia may give up some of its claims to other territories that it seized after the invasion that started in February 2022, in return for keeping Crimea.
Russia now occupies about 20 per cent of Ukraine’s territory.
Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who was at Trump’s summit, told CNN, “The Russians made some concessions at the table with regard to all five of those regions” that Moscow has laid claims to.
Trump was also echoing Vladimir Putin’s demand that Ukraine should not aspire to membership in the Western military alliance, NATO.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was also present at the summit, gave a hint about what Trump demanded explicitly.
Rubio told an NBC news programme earlier Sunday, “The only way to reach a deal is for each side to get something and each side to give something.”
Trump’s post came as Zelensky was set to meet him to follow up on the US-Russia summit in Alaska to find a way to end the war.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and European Union President Ursula von der Leyen are among leaders who have said that they will be accompanying Zelensky.
The meeting is to prepare the way for a trilateral meeting that includes Putin by narrowing the differences and setting the parameters for negotiations.
Zelensky and European leaders have opposed Ukraine having to give up any territory in a peace deal.
Zelensky said on X, Sunday after a strategy session with European leaders, “Everyone agrees that borders must not be changed by force.”
“There are no territorial negotiations between Putin and Trump over the heads of Ukraine and the Europeans,” Merz said in a tweet on Sunday.
After his summit, Trump dropped his demand for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine that the Europeans had agreed on, and the threat of “severe consequences” for Russia if he didn’t get it.
The leaders accompanying Zelensky apparently want to make sure that he is not made to agree to concessions by an overbearing Trump, especially on territory.
Trump had publicly berated Zelensky at an Oval Office meeting in February for his demands to agree to a peace deal, telling him that he did not “have the cards” and he was risking World War III.
“They’re not coming here tomorrow to keep Zelensky from being bullied,” Rubio said, bristling at the suggestion on CBS, calling it a “stupid media narrative.”
“The President invited them to come,” he said.
Trump and Rubio have conceded that the final decision on a peace deal was with Zelensky.
Zelensky acknowledged a significant concession Trump wrested from Putin, to offer a security guarantee for Ukraine that the US would also participate in.
“This is a historic decision that the United States is ready to take part in security guarantees for Ukraine,” which, he said, “must be developed with Europe’s participation” and cover land, sea and air.
Witkoff said, “We agreed to robust security guarantees that I would describe as game-changing.”
He said that Putin had agreed to enact legislation promising Russia wouldn’t invade Ukraine or other countries.
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