Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) – President Donald Trump said in an interview published on Friday that “Crimea will remain with Russia”, the last example of the American leader putting pressure on Ukraine to make concessions to end the war while it remains besieged.
“Zelenskyy understands it,” said Trump, referring to the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “and everyone understands that this has been with them for a long time.”
The American president made these comments in an interview with Time magazine led on Tuesday. Trump accused Zelenskyy of prolong the war By resisting negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Crimea is a strategic peninsula Along the Black Sea in the south of Ukraine. It was seized by Russia in 2014, while President Barack Obama was in office, years before the large -scale invasion that started in 2022.
“They have their submarines there for a long time before any period we are talking about, for many years. People speak largely Russian in Crimea,” said Trump. “But it was given by Obama. It was not given by Trump.”
Meanwhile, Russia continued its bombing. A drone struck an apartment building in a city in southeast Ukraine, killing three people and injuring 10 others, said Friday Trump reprimanded the chief of Russia for a Attack on missile and deadly drones against Kyiv.
A 76 -year -old child and woman were one of civilians killed during the night drone strike in Pavlohrad, in the Dnipropetrovsk Ukraine region, the regional administration chief Serhii Lysak, wrote on Telegram.
Russian forces pulled 103 Shahed and Lure drones in five Ukrainian regions overnight, Ukraine’s air force reported. The authorities of the northeast regions of Sumy and Kharkiv reported damage to civil infrastructure but no victims.
The war could approach a pivotal moment when the Trump administration weighs its options. Senior American officials have warned that the administration could soon abandon the attempts to stop the war if the two parties do not reach an agreement. This could potentially mean a judgment of American military aid crucial for Ukraine.
In the midst of peace efforts, Russia beat kyiv in an hour -long dam on Thursday, killing at least 12 people and injuring 87 in its deadliest assault in the Ukrainian capital since July.
The attack attracted a rare reprimand by Russian President Vladimir Putin of Trump, who said that a push to end the war comes to the head.
“I am not satisfied with the Russian strikes on Kyiv. Not necessary, and a very bad timing. Vladimir, stop! 5,000 soldiers per week are dying. ” Trump wrote in an article on his Truth social platform. “Allows you to make the peace agreement!”
Trump’s frustration increases while his efforts to forge an agreement between Ukraine and Russia failed to carry out a breakthrough.
Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met Putin in Moscow on Friday, their second meeting this month and the fourth since February.
The Kremlin has published a short video from Putin and Witkoff greeting. “How are you, Mr. President?” You could hear that Witkoff said. “Very well, very well, thank you,” replied Putin in rare comments in English, while the two were handling hands.
Putin’s foreign policy aid Yuri Ushakov and sent for international Kirill Dmitriev cooperation joined the two at the table for talks.
Trump accused Zelenskyy Wednesday to extend the “field of killing” by refuse to surrender occupied Russia Crimea peninsula as part of a possible case. Russia illegally annexed this region in 2014. Zelenskyy repeatedly repeated during the war that recognition of the territory occupied as Russian is a red line for its country.
Trump and Zelenskyy plan to arrive in Rome on Friday for The funeral of Pope Francis On the Place Saint-Pierre du Vatican on Saturday. It was not immediately clear if they met separately.
An explosion in Moscow targets a superior officer
Meanwhile, a higher Russian military officer was killing Near Moscow on Friday, said the best criminal investigation in Russia.
The attack follows the Kilant of Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov On December 17, 2024, when a hidden bomb on an electric scooter parked in front of its building exploded by leaving for its office. Russian authorities blamed Ukraine for the murder of Kirillov.
Since Russia has invaded, several eminent personalities have been killed in targeted attacks that were carried out by Ukraine.
Russian forces used Thursday’s attack on kyiv as a blanket to launch nearly 150 assaults against Ukrainian positions along the front line of approximately 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), Zelenskyy said late Thursday.
“When the maximum of our forces focused on defense against missiles and drones, the Russians continued to considerably intensify their attacks on the ground,” he wrote on Telegram.
The leaders of Western Europe accused Putin of having dragged his feet in the negotiations and of seeking to grasp more Ukrainian land while his army has a momentum of the battlefield.
Zelenskyy noted on Thursday that Ukraine had accepted a proposal for an American ceasefire 44 days ago, in the first stage towards a negotiated peace, but that the Russian attacks continued.
During recent discussions, Russia Hit the city of Sumykilling more than 30 civilians gathered to celebrate twigs on Sundays, Onesa beaten with drones And Zaporizhzhia exploded with powerful sliding bombs.
___
Chris Megerian contributed from Washington.
___
Follow the coverage of war by the AP in Ukraine in https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
