Trump Seems Prepared To Grant Russia A Major Concession To End Ukraine War

President Donald Trump said “Crimea will stay with Russia” as part of the deal he is pushing, seeming prepared to grant Russian President Vladimir Putin a major win to realize his goal of ending the Ukraine war.

In an interview with Time published on Friday, Trump appeared optimistic that the conflict would end on his watch, claiming he is uniquely positioned to deliver peace, even though he has failed to meet his campaign promise of ending the war on Day One of his second term.

“Well, I said that figuratively,” Trump said. “Obviously, people know that when I said that, it was said in jest, but it was also said that it will be ended.”

Trump, once again, seemed to side with Moscow, blaming Ukraine for the war prompted by Russia’s full-scale invasion Feb. 24, 2022.

“I think what caused the war to start was when they started talking about joining NATO,” Trump said. “If that weren’t brought up, there would have been a much better chance that it wouldn’t have started.”

Trump, according to Time, is now pushing for a deal that would grant Moscow 20% of Ukraine’s land, including Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, while former President Barack Obama was in office.

“Crimea will stay with Russia,” he said. “And [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy understands that, and everybody understands that it’s been with them for a long time. It’s been with them long before Trump came along.”

Recognizing the peninsula as part of Russia would break with over 10 years of U.S. foreign policy. Zelenskyy also has made clear he would not agree to cede Crimea to Putin.

“There is nothing to talk about. It is our land, the land of the Ukrainian people,” Zelenskyy said Tuesday.

Trump blasted Zelenskyy’s comments, calling them “inflammatory” in a post on his Truth Social platform this week.

“Nobody is asking Zelenskyy to recognize Crimea as Russian Territory,” he said, accusing the wartime leader of hindering peace efforts.

Trump’s interview with Time comes a day after he claimed Russia was making a “pretty big concession” by stopping short of “taking the whole country” of Ukraine.

Russia has been unsuccessfully attempting to take the entire country since February 2022.