Cnn
–
President Donald Trump criticized Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, for his comments that Ukraine would not recognize Russian Crimea control, calling the remarks of “very harmful to peace negotiations with Russia”.
“These are inflammatory declarations like that of Zelenskyy who makes this war so difficult to settle. He has nothing to boast! The situation for Ukraine is disastrous-he can have peace or, he can fight for three years before losing the whole country,” he posted on Truth Social.
His comments occurred a few hours after a meeting in London aimed to end the Russian war in Ukraine was demoted after the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would not participate.
Rubio had to participate in discussions with Ukrainian, British and European officials, but the spokesman for the State Department, Tammy Bruce, said on Tuesday that he would no longer deal with “logistical problems”, although an American official and two European diplomats familiar with the issue said that the American diplomat did not go because the administration did not think In terms of continuing the talks and that Rubio did not feel best.
“It was better to let the talks take place than to create the illusion that a breakthrough was imminent,” said one of the European diplomats.
The British Foreign Ministry confirmed on Wednesday that the meeting would take place at a lower level. “Official level discussions will continue, but these are closed to the media,” the ministry told journalists.
Developments are launching a new uncertainty about diplomatic efforts to end the Russian war. The United States has become more and faster in its thrust to force kyiv to an agreement, but Ukraine is categorical not to abandon Crimea, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014, or parts of eastern Ukraine which were captured after the Complete Invasion of Moscow in 2022.
US vice-president JD Vance threatened to abandon negotiations on Wednesday, telling journalists during a visit to India: “We published a very explicit proposal to the Russians and Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to say yes or for the United States to work on this process.
But the European allies of Ukraine, in particular Great Britain and France, hoped to fill the gap. Wednesday talks were to follow a meeting in Paris last week in which officials from the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany discussed the American framework for a cease-fire.
After Rubio reversed the plans to attend the latest discussions, Bruce said that President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia Kellogg, would represent the United States in London instead.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in Russia, said an American official.
The American proposal which caused an impasse includes the recognition of Russia’s control over Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula in southern Moscow, a familiar official with the frame, told CNN. He would also put a cease-fire in place along the war front lines, said the official.
Any decision to recognize the control of Russia on Crimea would overthrow a decade of American policy.
Zelensky clearly said on Tuesday that it was open to talks with Russia, but that kyiv would not accept an agreement that recognizes Moscow’s control over Crimea.
“Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea,” he told journalists. “There is nothing to say. It is against our constitution. ”
Invited to clarify if he meant that the United States wanted to freeze the territorial lines in which it is, Vance said on Wednesday: “No, I did not say that. What I said was the current line, somewhere near them, that’s where you are finally, I think, who will trace the lines in the conflict. Of course, this means that the Ukrainians and the Russians go both.
Meanwhile, war has fully resulted in this week, after a surprise ceasefire during the Easter weekend that the two parties accused themselves of violation.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian authorities said nine people had been killed and at least 30 injured when a Russian drone hit a bus transporting people to work near the city of Marhanets in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
The National Guard of Russia said it had destroyed 17 Ukrainian attack drones overnight, the state managed by the state.
The talks in London were planned while US officials have publicly expressed frustration in the face of the lack of progress to end the war.
Trump said that he “should see an enthusiasm for wanting to end it” on both sides so that the United States continues the negotiations, after Rubio warned last week that Washington could move away from his efforts to end the conflict if there was no sign of progress.
The large framework was presented on both sides, said Rubio and the State Department, to determine if the differences can be reduced in a short time. There are still elements of the framework to be fulfilled and the United States plan to work with Europeans and Ukrainians on this week, the official told CNN.
The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that negotiations, “let’s hope, played in the right direction”, and refused to say what peace efforts in the United States might look like.
Moscow previously blocked the cease-fire negotiations and rejected an American previous proposal for a 30-day ceasefire agreed by kyiv.
However, under pressure from Trump, Ukraine and Russia, expressed their desire to negotiate for the first time in years; The two parties have not had direct talks since the first weeks of the invasion of Moscow in 2022.
Putin raised the prospect on Monday to try direct talks with Ukraine from a cease-fire that would stop striking civilian objectives, but said new discussions were necessary on how to define a civil target.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov later confirmed the Russian president’s remarks, saying that “(Putin) had in mind negotiations and discussions with the Ukrainian side,” said Reuters, citing the Interfax news agency in Russia.
