By Kavita Mistry 
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that “Crimea will stay with Russia,” the latest example of the U.S. leader pressuring Ukraine to make concessions to end the war while it remains under siege.
“Zelenskyy understands that,” Mr. Trump said, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “and everybody understands that it’s been with them for a long time.”
The U.S. President made the comments in a Time magazine interview conducted on Tuesday. Mr. Trump has been accusing Mr. Zelenskyy of prolonging the war by resisting negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Crimea is a strategic peninsula along the Black Sea in southern Ukraine. It was seized by Russia in 2014, while U.S. President Barack Obama was in office, years before the full-scale invasion that began in 2022.
“They’ve had their submarines there for long before any period that we’re talking about, for many years. The people speak largely Russian in Crimea,” Mr. Trump said. “But this was given by Obama. This wasn’t given by Trump.”
Meanwhile, Russia has continued its bombardment. A drone struck an apartment building in a southeastern Ukrainian city, killing three people and injuring 10 others, officials said Friday, a day after Mr. Trump rebuked Russia’s leader for a deadly missile and drone attack on Kyiv.
A child and a 76-year-old woman were among the civilians killed in the nighttime drone strike in Pavlohrad, in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, the head of the regional administration, Serhii Lysak, wrote on Telegram.
Russian forces fired 103 Shahed and decoy drones at five Ukrainian regions overnight, Ukraine’s air force reported. Authorities in the northeastern Sumy and Kharkiv regions reported damage to civilian infrastructure but no casualties.
The war could be approaching a pivotal moment as the Trump administration weighs its options. Senior U.S. officials have warned that the administration could soon give up attempts to stop the war if the two sides do not come to an agreement. That could potentially mean a halt of crucial U.S. military aid for Ukraine.
Amid the peace efforts, Russia pounded Kyiv in an hourslong barrage Thursday, killing at least 12 people and injuring 87 in its deadliest assault on the Ukrainian capital since July.
The attack drew a rare rebuke of Russian President Vladimir Putin from Trump, who has said that a push to end the war is coming to a head.
“I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying.” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform. “Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!”
Mr. Trump’s frustration is growing as his effort to forge a deal between Ukraine and Russia has failed to achieve a breakthrough.
Mr. Trump envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin in Moscow on Friday, their second meeting this month and the fourth since February.
The Kremlin released a short video of Putin and Witkoff greeting each other. “How are you, Mr. President?” Mr. Witkoff could be heard saying. “Fine, just fine, thank you,” Mr. Putin responded in rare remarks in English, as the two shook hands.
Mr. Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov and envoy for international cooperation Kirill Dmitriev joined the two at the table for the talks.
Mr. Trump accused Mr. Zelenskyy on Wednesday of prolonging the “killing field” by refusing to surrender the Russia-occupied Crimea Peninsula as part of a possible deal. Russia illegally annexed that area in 2014. Zelenskyy has repeated many times during the war that recognizing occupied territory as Russian is a red line for his country.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelenskyy plan to arrive in Rome on Friday for the funeral of Pope Francis in the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Square on Saturday. It wasn’t immediately clear if they would meet separately.
Published – April 25, 2025 09:06 pm IST