The Kremlin has echoed Donald Trump’s criticism of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky after he refused to cede the territory of Crimea to Russia – which was illegally annexed by Moscow before its wider invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“Crimea was lost years ago… and is not even a point of discussion,” Mr Trump said on Truth Social on Wednesday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Mr Trump’s position “completely corresponds with our understanding and with what we have been saying for a long time”.
The US president also accused Mr Zelensky of being “harder” to deal with than Moscow in trying to agree a peace deal to end the invasion.
In a visit to South Africa on Thursday, Mr Zelensky said he did not see signs the United States was putting strong pressure on Russia as part of its peace push. He has repeatedly said that recognising occupied territory as Russian is a red line.
Meanwhile, at least eight people were killed in a massive Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv overnight, which also injured 70 people including six children. At least one person has been pulled alive from under the rubble.
Starmer urges Putin to agree to unconditional ceasefire
The prime minister has stepped up demands on Russia’s Vladimir Putin to agree to an immediate unconditional ceasefire after the “brutal” overnight strike on Kyiv.
Sir Keir Starmer said the attack demonstrated that Mr Putin was “the aggressor here” – in contrast with Donald Trump suggestion that Volodymyr Zelensky was the barrier to peace.
On a visit to Bristol, Sir Keir said: “I think it’s a real reminder that Russia is the aggressor here and that is being felt by the Ukrainians, as it has been felt for three long years now.
“That’s why it’s important to get Russia to an unconditional ceasefire.
“Obviously, we had talks in London this week, Paris last week. We’re making progress towards the ceasefire. It’s got to be a lasting ceasefire.
“But these attacks – these awful attacks – are a real, human reminder of who is the aggressor here and the cost to the Ukrainian people.”
Russia reserves right to use nuclear weapons if West attacks – Moscow official
Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons if it faces Western aggression, Moscow’s top security official, Sergei Shoigu, told Tass state news agency on Thursday.
Mr Shoigu’s comments come as US president Donald Trump and vice president JD Vance warn that Washington could walk away from trying to negotiate a peace settlement in Ukraine if there is no progress on a deal soon.
The former Russian defence minister – before moving to head its powerful security council in a government reshuffle last year – cited amendments to Moscow’s nuclear doctrine approved by president Vladimir Putin last November.
Under the new terms, Russia could consider a nuclear strike in response to a conventional attack on Russia or its ally Belarus that “created a critical threat to their sovereignty and (or) their territorial integrity.”
“…in the event of foreign states committing unfriendly actions that pose a threat to the sovereignty and territory integrity of the Russian Federation, our country considers it legitimate to take symmetric and asymmetric measures necessary to suppress such actions and prevent their recurrence,” Mr Shoigu added.
Watch: Kyiv civilians shelter in metro as Russian missiles rain on Ukraine’s capital
Zelensky: London talks were ‘constructive’
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said during the press conferencethat the talks between Ukrainian and Western officials in London on Wednesday had not been “easy” but were “constructive.”
Foreign minister-level Ukraine peace talks that were due to take place were postponed at the last minute amid speculation that Russia is willing to change its position and after the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said he could not attend.
The meeting was replaced by discussions by other officials
“I am sure that Russia was counting on a big scandal yesterday,” Mr Zelensky said. “I’m sure Russia was hoping for a huge row yesterday. Russia doesn’t like the alliance around Ukraine, because Ukraine would be an easier target without it.”
Zelensky: Negotiating with Russian ‘terrorists’ is already big compromise by Kyiv
President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he does not see any strong pressure on Russia at present, in in a press conference with South African president Cyril Ramaphosa during a visit to the country.
Russia’s overnight attack on Ukraine was part of sa Russian pressure campaign on the US, he added.
For Kyiv to negotiate with Russian “terrorists” after any ceasefire would already be a big compromise on its part, the Ukrainian leader said. While Ukraine is ready to do everything its partners propose, it cannot do anything which contravenes its constitution – such as recognising Ukrainian territory as Russian.
What is the history of Crimea, a sticking point in peace talks?
Jutting out into the Black Sea off southern Ukraine, Crimea was absorbed into the Russian Empire along with most ethnic Ukrainian territory by Catherine the Great in the 18th century. Russia’s Black Sea naval base at Sevastopol was founded soon afterwards.
More than half a million people were killed in the Crimean War of 1853-56 when competing geopolitical powers Russia and the Ottoman Empire, backed by Britain and France, took up arms. The conflict reshaped Europe and paved the way for World War One.
In 1921, the peninsula, then populated mainly by Muslim Tatars, became part of the Soviet Union. The Tatars were deported en masse by Soviet leader Josef Stalin at the end of World War Two for alleged collaboration with the Nazis.
Crimea became part of Russia within the Soviet Union until 1954, when it was handed to Ukraine, also then a Soviet Republic, by Stalin’s successor Nikita Khrushchev, a Ukrainian.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, there were periodic political tussles over its status between Moscow and Kyiv before Russia captured Crimea by force in 2014.
Russia sent forces into Crimea and seized control of the peninsula after Ukraine’s pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, was ousted during mass protests in February 2014.
Russian commander who criticised leadership imprisoned for five years
A former Russian commander who criticised Moscow’s military leadership in Ukraine was sentenced to five years on Thursday after a military court found him guilty of large-scale fraud, the Tass state news agency reported.
Ivan Popov, a former major general who led Russia’s 58th army and who fought in Chechnya and later commanded Russian units in southern Ukraine, was found guilty of stealing more than 130 million roubles ($1.56 million) of metal products intended for building fortifications along the Ukrainian frontline.
Zelensky: Negotiating with Russian ‘terrorists’ is already a big compromise
In the press conference with South African president Cyril Ramaphosa, Mr Zelensky says he is not seeing very strong pressure on Russia at present.
For Kyiv to negotiate with Russian “terrorists” after a ceasefire is implemented, he adds, is already a significant compromise on Ukraine’s part.
Ukraine is ready to do everything partners propose but he cannot do things which contravene its constitution, he added.
Zelensky: London talks not easy, but constructive
Speaking in a press conference alongside South African president Cyril Ramaphosa, Volodymyr Zelensky has said talks in London yesterday were “not easy”.
The Ukrainian president did not attend the talks. US secretary of state Marco Rubio also pulled out of the talks.
Mr Zelensky did add that the London talks were “constructive”.
Source: independent.co.uk