Trump Says 'Crimea Will Stay With Russia'

US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump said in an interview published Friday that "Crimea will stay with Russia," the latest example of the US leader pressuring Ukraine to make concessions to end the war while it remains under siege.

- ASSOCIATED PRESS

"Zelenskyy understands that," Trump said, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, "and everybody understands that it's been with them for a long time."

The US president made the comments in a Time magazine interview conducted on Tuesday.

Trump has been accusing Zelenskyy of prolonging the war by resisting negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Western European leaders, however, have accused Putin of dragging his feet in the negotiations and seeking to grab more Ukrainian land while his army has battlefield momentum.