WASHINGTON/LONDON/PARIS, April 23 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy clashed again on Wednesday on efforts to end the three-year-old war in Ukraine, with the U.S. leader chiding Zelenskiy for refusing to recognize Russia's occupation of Crimea.
Trump's
Vice President JD Vance said it was time for Russia and Ukraine to
either agree to a U.S. peace proposal "or for the United States to walk
away from this process," echoing a warning from Trump last week.
Speaking
to reporters in India, Vance said the proposal called for freezing
territorial lines "at some level close to where they are today" and a
"long-term diplomatic settlement that hopefully will lead to long-term
peace."
"The only way to really stop the killing is for the armies to both put down their weapons, to freeze this thing," he said.
A
former Western official familiar with the U.S. proposal said it also
called for the recognition of Russia's annexation of Crimea.
Since
taking office in January, Trump has upended U.S. policy toward the war
in Ukraine, pressing Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire while easing
pressure on Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor
in 2022.
Zelenskiy
on Tuesday reiterated that Ukraine would never cede Crimea to Russia,
which seized control of the peninsula in 2014 in a move that was
condemned internationally. "There's nothing to talk about here. This is
against our constitution," he said.
Trump,
who argued with Zelenskiy in a disastrous Oval Office meeting in March,
called this an inflammatory statement that made peace harder to
achieve. He said in a social media post that Crimea was lost years ago
"and is not even a point of discussion."
Zelenskiy
acknowledged later in an X post that the London talks among U.S.,
Ukrainian and European officials were marked by high emotions but
expressed hope that future joint work would lead to peace.
He
pledged again that Ukraine would abide by its constitution and said he
was sure Kyiv's partners, in particular the United States, "will act in
line with its strong decisions."
He
attached to his post a 2018 Crimea Declaration from Mike Pompeo,
Trump's secretary of state during his first term, which said: "The
United States rejects Russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea and
pledges to maintain this policy until Ukraine’s territorial integrity is
restored."
Trump,
who promised during his election campaign to end the war within his
first 24 hours back in the White House, scolded Zelenskiy and said on
Truth Social the U.S. was trying to stop the killing in Ukraine and that
they were "very close to a deal" for peace.
Trump
told reporters later he thought the London talks had gone "pretty
well," although he also said, in apparent reference to Russian President
Vladimir Putin and Zelenskiy: "We've got to get two people, two strong
people, two smart people, to agree. And as soon as they agree, the
killing will stop."