United States President Donald Trump has criticised Volodymyr Zelenskyy, blaming the Ukrainian president's refusal to accept Russian occupation of Crimea for failure to end the
Trump said in a Truth Social post a deal was "very close" but that Zelenskyy's refusal to accept US terms for ending the conflict — which started with Russia's invasion in 2022 — "will do nothing but prolong the 'killing field'".
The comments came as lower-level envoys from the US, Ukraine and European nations wrapped up talks in the United Kingdom.
"Emotions have run high today. But it is good that five countries met to bring peace closer," Zelenskyy wrote on the X social media platform after the talks.
US vice president JD Vance earlier laid out the US vision for a peace deal where Russia would get to keep already occupied swathes of Ukraine, which include Crimea.
Zelenskyy rejected this as a violation of Ukraine's constitution.
That in turn prompted Trump's outburst in which he accused Zelenskyy of "boasting" and taking a position "very harmful to the peace negotiations with Russia".
"Inflammatory" Zelenskyy has "no cards" and "can have peace or he can fight for another three years before losing the whole country," Trump wrote.
Trump said Crimea — a lush Black Sea peninsula with longtime major Soviet and Russian naval facilities — "was lost years ago" and "is not even a point of discussion".
In his post, Zelenskyy said Ukraine "will always act in accordance with its constitution and we are absolutely sure that our partners, in particular the USA, will act in line with its strong decisions".
He appended a copy of a 2018 statement by then-US secretary of state Mike Pompeo — during Trump's first term as president — calling on Russia to end its occupation of Crimea and uphold the principle of not changing borders by force.
The intense US pressure on Ukraine to accept the terms comes as Trump scrambles to fulfil his election campaign promises, which included vowing to resolve the conflict within 24 hours.
He has put no equivalent visible pressure on Russia, while dangling a lifting of massive US economic sanctions against Russia if the fighting stops.
Freezing the frontlines
Vance earlier gave the fullest public explanation of the US plan so far, saying that the deal would "freeze the territorial lines at some level close to where they are today".
"The Ukrainians and the Russians are both going to have to give up some of the territory they currently own," Vance said while on a trip to India.
Freezing the frontlines would mean Ukraine losing huge areas to Russian occupation.
Vance did not explain what territory Russia — which seized Crimea in 2014 and launched a full-scale invasion targeting the rest of the country in 2022 — would have to give up.
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Easter, but no change on the frontlines in Ukraine
SBS News
05:49
Growing speculation over the US being ready to recognise Russian rule over Crimea as a sweetener to get Russia to stop its invasion has alarmed European capitals.
The latest diplomatic clash comes after a fresh wave of Russian airstrikes that shattered a brief Easter truce.
A Russian drone strike on a bus transporting workers in the south-eastern city of Marganets killed nine people and wounded at least 30 more, the Dnipropetrovsk regional governor said on Wednesday.
Ukrainian authorities also reported strikes in the regions of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Poltava and Odesa.
In light of the attacks, Zelenskyy called for an "immediate, full, and unconditional ceasefire".
In Russia, one person was reported wounded by shelling in the Belgorod region.
