President Donald Trump is weighing formally handing Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea as part of a future peace settlement in the war in Ukraine, according to a report.
Newsweek has contacted Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry and the White House for comment by email.
Why It Matters
Crimea, annexed by Putin in 2014, remains a key flashpoint in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. The Black Sea peninsula was seized by Putin in a widely condemned move considered illegal by the international community, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to reverse this annexation. Zelensky has insisted that the peninsula must be returned to Ukrainian control as a critical condition for any lasting peace agreement.
What To Know
As part of a potential peace agreement, the White House is considering officially recognizing Crimea as Russian territory and encouraging the United Nations to do the same, according to a report by news outlet Semafor, citing two individuals familiar with the discussions.
Crimea is internationally recognized as part of Ukraine.
In a statement to the outlet, National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes denied the White House has made any commitments.
The development comes as Trump and Putin are set to speak by phone on Tuesday, and as Washington is pushing for a 30-day ceasefire in the war.
Trump told reporters Sunday evening that they would talk “to see if we can bring that war to an end.” He also said aboard Air Force One that negotiators working to bring a cessation in hostilities had already discussed “dividing up certain assets.”
Zelensky has refused to cede territory to Russia to bring an end to the war, while Moscow has demanded Ukraine give up its aspirations to join NATO, and recognize Crimea and the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, as Russian.
Political scientist John Mearsheimer, who published commentary in 1993 titled “The Case for a Ukrainian Nuclear Deterrent,” told Newsweek he believes it is unlikely that Ukraine will be able to retrieve the territory Russia has occupied in the conflict.
“With regard to losing territory, the only interesting question at this point in time is how much territory Ukraine is going to lose because there’s no way Ukraine can take back the territory that it’s lost,” said Mearsheimer, the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Chicago.
“Indeed, Ukraine, even with full backing from the United States and its European allies, cannot take back the territory it’s lost. This is a disastrous situation for Ukraine.”
What People Are Saying
National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes told Semafor: “[The White House has] made no such commitments and we will not negotiate this deal through the media.
“Just two weeks ago, both Ukraine and Russia were miles apart on a ceasefire agreement, and we are now closer to a deal thanks to the leadership of President Trump. The goal remains the same: stop the killing and find a peaceful resolution to this conflict.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday: “I won’t get ahead of those negotiations (between Trump and Putin) but I can say we are on the 10th yard line of peace. We’ve never been closer to a peace deal than we are in this moment and the president is determined to get one done.”
President Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday: “We’re doing pretty well, I think, with Russia. We’ll see if we have something to announce maybe by Tuesday, I’ll be speaking to President Putin on Tuesday.
“A lot of work’s been done over the weekend, we want to see if we can bring that war to an end. Maybe we can, maybe we can’t, but I think we have a very good chance. We’ll be talking about land. A lot of land is a lot different than it was before the war, as you know. We’ll be talking about land, we’ll be talking about power plants, that’s a big question.
“But I think we have a lot of it already discussed, very much, by both sides, Ukraine and Russia. We’re already talking about that—dividing up certain assets.”
What Happens Next
Further details of a potential peace deal between Ukraine and Russia may become clearer after Putin and Trump hold talks on Tuesday.
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