Ahead of his meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders later today, Donald Trump has put pressure on Ukraine’s president to end the war “almost immediately”.
He said Zelenskyy can do this “if he wants to, or he can continue to fight” (see 6.31 post).
Today’s meeting comes after Trump’s talks with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, where a deal to end the war wasn’t agreed.
But Trump’s social media post this morning gives us a flavour of what we can expect from today’s talks.
“No getting back Obama given Crimea… and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE,” Trump wrote.
The strategic peninsula of Crimea has been crucial in US-led efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
The peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, has long been coveted by Moscow, which wants Ukraine to officially surrender the territory as part of a peace deal.
Zelenskyy has rejected this on multiple occasions, saying that formally surrendering the land has always been a red line, and goes against Kyiv’s constitution.
While Putin has said he doesn’t want Ukraine to join NATO, US envoy Steve Witkoff said Russia’s president agreed to allow Ukraine’s allies to offer it a NATO-like security guarantee as part of an eventual deal to end the war.
Trump tells Zelenskyy to give up Crimea and NATO plans ahead of White House talks
