The United States is ready to recognize Russian control over Ukraine’s Crimea region as part of a broad peace agreement between Moscow and Kiev. This was reported on Friday by the U.S. news agency Bloomberg News, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Crimea was occupied by Russia in early 2014; since then, President Vladimir Putin has sought international recognition of the area as part of national territory.
With the plan to reach a truce between Kiev and Moscow by Easter now gone, Washington has been keen to reiterate that its patience has a limit, and that it’s quickly coming to an end.
President Trump said that if either side behaves “stupidly”, the U.S. will leave the negotiating table.
His words were anticipated by those of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said during his visit to Paris: “If it is not possible to end the war in Ukraine, we need to move on. We need to determine very quickly now, and I’m talking about a matter of days, whether or not this is doable”.
However, Trump’s statements continue to be self-contradictory; in the last few hours, Trump has said he does not feel he is being taken for a ride by Russia, while his deputy, JD Vance, who landed in Rome on Friday, said he was somewhat optimistic about the possibility of finding the agreement to reach a truce in Ukraine.
For its part, Moscow has reported that the sides are still arguing with each other-Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier this week that it will not be easy to reach an agreement.
Yet, as Bloomberg reported, the U.S. plan appears to be particularly beneficial to the Kremlin. Indeed, the U.S. proposal would put the conflict on hold, with Ukrainian territories currently occupied by Russia remaining under Moscow’s control.
Kiev’s ambitions to join NATO would also be excluded from the negotiating table. However, to date the road to an agreement between the parties remains decidedly uphill. Nevertheless, Kiev seems to be more “accommodating” to the plan. Over the weekend, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov told U.S. officials that Kiev agrees “90 percent” with President Trump’s peace plan.
