JAKARTA - President Donald Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky clashed again on Wednesday over efforts to end the three-year war in Ukraine, with US Leaders reprimanding Kyiv Leaders for refusing to recognize Russia's occupation of Crimea.
President Zelensky on Tuesday reiterated that Ukraine would never hand over Crimea to Russia, which seized control of the peninsula in 2014 in an act condemned internationally.
"There's nothing to talk about here. It's against our constitution," he said.
President Trump, who had a heated debate with President Zelensky in the White House Oval Room last March, called the statement inciting and making peace even more difficult to achieve.
In a post on social media He wrote, Crimea has been missing many years ago "and is not even a topic of conversation."
President Trump, who pledged during his election campaign to end the war in the first 24 hours after returning to the White House, rebuked President Zelensky and said in Truth Social the US was trying to stop the killings in Ukraine and they were "very close to the deal" for peace.
President Zelensky later acknowledged in a post on X that talks in London between US, Ukrainian and European officials were characterized by high emotions, but expressed hope that future cooperation would result in peace.
He promised again that Ukraine would comply with its constitution and said it believed Kyiv partners, particularly the United States, "will act in accordance with its strong decision."
He then attached in his upload the 2018 Crimea Declaration of US Secretary of State at the time, Mike Pompeo, who said, "The United States rejected Russia's attempts to annex Crimea and promised to maintain this policy until Ukraine's territorial integrity was restored."
Earlier, Trump's Vice President, JD Vance, said it was time for Russia and Ukraine to approve the US peace proposal "or the United States will abandon this process," echoing a warning from President Trump last week.
Speaking to reporters in India, Vice President Vance said the proposal called for a freeze in the territorial limit "at a certain level that is approaching the current situation" and "long-term diplomatic settlements that are expected to lead to long-term peace."
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"The only way to really stop the killings is for both sides to lay down their weapons, freezing this," he said.
A former Western official familiar with the US proposal said the proposal also called for recognition of Russia's annexation of Crimea.
Since taking office in January, President Trump has changed US policies against the war in Ukraine, urging Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire while reducing pressure on Russia, which launched a massive invasion of its neighboring country by 2022.
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