Crimea is lost, says Trump as he warns Zelenskyy on peace deal

Washington's proposal would freeze conflict along current frontlines

- Dan Sabbagh Pjotr Sauer

Donald Trump accused Volodymyr Zelenskyy of jeopardising what he claimed was an imminent peace deal to end the war in Ukraine yesterday, and gave the clearest hint yet that the US would be willing to formally recognise Russia's aggressive seizure of Crimea as part of any agreement.

The US president claimed a deal to end the war - largely negotiated between Washington and Moscow - was close, while his vice-president, JD Vance, said the agreement would include a proposal to freeze the conflict roughly along current frontlines.

It was unclear how Ukraine and its European allies, meeting in London yesterday, would respond to a plan largely constructed in their absence.

Zelenskyy countered by proposing a simple ceasefire without conditions on both sides, though this did not immediately gain any traction from the US.

But after a day of speculation and partial disclosure of the terms of the peace proposal, Trump complained that Kyiv was unwilling to cede Crimea to Russia - the most contentious aspect of the tentative agreement that has leaked so far.

The US president wrote, in a social media posting, that "Crimea was lost years ago" in 2014, and its control "is not even a point of discussion", an apparent reference to the fact Ukraine has been unable to recapture it in the three-year war.

Reports that the US would be willing to recognise Crimea under Russian control have been circulating for a couple of days.

That had prompted Ukraine's president to say on Tuesday: "Ukraine will not recognise the occupation of Crimea," arguing that doing so would be incompatible with Ukraine's constitution.