“Crimea will remain with Russia, and Zelensky understands it.” Donald Trump has clearly expressed his position In an interview with Time before his special correspondent Steve Witkoff returned to the Kremlin to meet Vladimir Putin and with him take stock of the negotiations. A “constructive and very useful” interview that lasted three hours, during which there was talk of the possibility of starting direct negotiations between Moscow and Kiev, according to the Russian part. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky holds the point: Crimea “belongs” to Ukraineand Kiev’s position on this “remains unchanged”. In Crimea “there have always been the Russians” and “the population speaks largely Russian”, and in any case it has already been “delivered” to Moscow by the then president Barack Obama, said the tenant of the White House, referring to the annexation of the Peninsula on the Black Sea by Moscow in 2014. Trump, however, has not excluded that he could meet the Ukrainian president in Rome on the occasion of the funeral of Pope Francis. Zelensky has made it known that he could give up the trip to the Vatican due to “different military meetings” scheduled.
The EU had said in recent days to support Zelensky in his refusal to accept the American recognition of Russian Crimea. But the themes on which the positions between Washington and the Europeans appear irreconcilable are many, according to the Reuters agency, which claims to have seen both the text of the American proposals for a negotiated solution, and the responses of Kiev, France, Great Britain and Germany. According to the plan illustrated by Witkoff on April 13 in a meeting in Paris, the Trump administration would not only officially declare Crimea as a Russian, but also to recognize Moscow control over the other territories so far conquered in Ukraine. The US also propose the revocation of the sanctions adopted against Russia since 2014. The counter -proposal of Kiev and Europeans is instead of “postponing a detailed discussion on the territories until after a ceasefire” and putting only “a gradual loosening of the sanctions in the pipeline after a sustainable peace is reached”.
Positions also distant on the security guarantees to be given to Ukrainewith the US who, however, exclude his adhesion to NATO. European and Ukrainians would like there to be no restriction on the deployment of western military forces and the extension to the Ukrainian territory of article 5 of the Atlantic Pact, which provides for the intervention of all members of the alliance in the event that one of them was attacked. But among the so -called Europeans’ willtenterosì – London and Paris in the lead – that hypothesized the sending of troops to Ukraine, you can see some sign of failure. The Times writes that he has learned from government and military sources that the United Kingdom is evaluating to abandon the idea of sending its military “thousands” to guard the Ukrainian territory on the ground, considering “too high” the dangers for their security and those of an escalation in the face of Moscow’s warnings and the absence of concrete protections by American. The same would be worthwhile for the European allies, according to the British newspaper. No denial by Downing Street. At the request to comment on the article, a spokesman for Prime Minister Keir Starmer has limited himself to responding that “the development of the plans” on the deployment of the coalition proceeds “of good lena” and that “all the options are on the table”. Meanwhile, Ukrainians report a new Russian bombing on a residential building in Pavlohrad, in the eastern region of Dnipropetrovsk, where, according to the military administration, three people were killed, including a child, and eight others were injured. But Putin and Witkoff have not only discussed Ukraine. The interview has “allowed to further approach the positions of Russia and the USA also on a series of other international issues”said the Russian presidential councilor for foreign policy, Yuri Ushakov. Probably a reference to the question of Iranian nuclear power, which will see Witkoff in Oman committed tomorrow for a new round of negotiations, after that of Rome. Russia has repeatedly said that it wants to contribute to a negotiated wrestling solution. And Trump said he was convinced that the talks “are going very well”.