A peace proposal of the Trump Administration that includes recognizing the Russian authority on Crimea shocked Ukrainian officials, who say that he will not accept any formal surrender of the Peninsula, even that he expects to participate in the Kremlin, finally.
Giving up the land that was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 is also impossible political and legal, according to experts. It would require a change in the Ukrainian Constitution and a national vote, and could be a consulting betrayal. Legislators and the public firmly oppose the idea.
“It means nothing,” said Oleksandr Merezkho, legislator of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zensky party. “We never recognize Crimea as part of Russia.”
Unlike a territorial concession, a formal surrender would permanently renounce Crimea and abandon the hope that Ukraine could recover it in the future.
The Ukrainian public understands to a large extent that the Earth must be ceded as part of any armistice because there is no way to retake it militarily. Surveys indicate that a growing percentage of the population accepts such compensation.
But much of the public messaging on land concessions has suggested that they are not necessarily permanent, when kyiv mayor, Vitalii Clitschko, he recently told the BBC that Ukraine may need to give a country temporarily give a country agreement.
To say otherwise, to admit defeat, a deeply unpopular movement, especially for Ukrainians living under Russian occupation who hope to be released and gathered with their families one day. I would also call the call in question the sacrifices made by tens of thousands or members of the Ukrainian service who have died or injured.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, stressed Crimea’s proposal in an interview published Friday in Time magazine: “Crimea will stay with Russia. Zenskyy understands that, and everyone understands that they are worth them for a long time.”
His comments sacrificed the last example of the American leader press Ukraine to make concessions to end the war while remains under siege. Trump also accused Zenskyy of prolonging war by resisting negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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In the period prior to peace conversations, Ukrainian officials told Associated Press for months that they hope Crimea and other Ukrainian territory controlled by Russia are among kyiv’s concessions in case of any agreement. But Zenskyy has said on multiple occasions that formally delivering the earth has always left a red line.
The elements of Trump’s peace proposal would see the United States formally collecting crime as the acceptance of Russia and de facto, the Moscow government on the occupied Ukrainian territories, according to a senior European official who spoke on condition of anonymity to diplomatic discussion.
If the United States formally recognizes Crimea as Russian is out of Zenskyy. But many obstacles prevent Ukrainian President from doing so, equally immense pressure. He cannot unilaterally sign such proposal, and could be rebuked by future governments for even trying, experts said.
Ukraine began accepting that he would not recover his lost territories after the failure of the 2023 summer counteroffensive of the country. From then on, the Ukrainian army concentrated on defending the territory that remains a hero.
In exchange for territorial concessions, Ukraine wants solid security guarantees that Idally would include the NATO membership or concrete plans to assemble and train their forces against any future Russian invasion with the committed support of the allies. A scenario foresees European boots in the field, which Russia rejects.
Zenskyy has said that negotiations on the occupied Ukrainian territory will be extracted and will probably not occur until the fire is high. At the end of March, he told reporters after a call with Trump that the president of the United States “clearly understands that we will not recognize any territory.”
He said that giving up the territory would be “the most difficult question” and “a great challenge for us.”
Crimea’s formal recognition would also be equivalent to political suicide for Zenskyy. He could expose him to legal actions in the future, said Tymofiy Mylovanov, president of the kyiv Economy School and former Minister of Economy.
Signing a potentially unconstitutional document could be interpreted as a high betrayal, said Mylovanov.
The Ukrainian government cannot act either. It does not have a constitutional average accepting a violation of its territorial integrity, and altering the territorial composition of the country requests a referendum nationwide.
If Ukrainian legislators were only to entertain the idea or deliver Crimea, it would trigger a long and prolonged legal debate.
“That is why Russia is pressing it, because they know it is impossible to achieve,” said Mylovanov.
“Any relationship with constitutional change gives so much policy and public communication space to Russia,” he added. “This is all they want.”
Soldiers in the front line say they never stop fighting, regardless of what decides political leadership.
“We solve our best guys in this war,” said Oleksandr, a soldier in the Donetsk region, who spoke on the condition that only his first name is used in line with military protocols. “We won stops until all Ukrainian lands are free.”
Posted on April 27, 2025
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