Trump Delivers Succinct Judgment on Crimea

President Trump spoke five words in an interview with Time that won't please Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky: "Crimea will stay with Russia." It's only the latest development about the Crimean peninsula, which has emerged this week as a sticking point in any peace deal to end the war with Russia.

• The interview was published Friday, and Trump spoke those words on Tuesday. The next day, he also cast doubt on whether Ukraine should retain control of the peninsula seized by Russia in 2014. In a Truth Social post, Trump criticized Zelensky after the Ukraine leader—in an interview with the Wall Street Journal—flatly rejected any peace plan that calls for it to cede control of Crimea.

• "This statement is very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia in that Crimea was lost years ago under the auspices of President Barack Hussein Obama, and is not even a point of discussion," wrote Trump. "Nobody is asking (Zelensky) to recognize Crimea as Russian Territory but, if he wants Crimea, why didn't they fight for it eleven years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired?"
• An analysis at the BBC explains that Zelensky cannot cede control because it's seen as a "red line" within his country. An American-designed peace plan, however, seems to call for just that, though details remain murky. "Trump is correct that there is little chance of Ukraine regaining Crimea in the foreseeable future, and it is in reality—de facto—under Russian control," writes Paul Kirby. "But that is a far cry from recognizing it as legal."
• Another analysis at the New York Times points out that Zelensky is constrained on Crimea by Ukraine's own constitution—and by political realities. "There is not a single Ukrainian politician who would vote to legalize the occupation of Ukrainian territories," says Kostyantyn Yeliseyev, former presidential deputy chief of staff. "For members of Parliament, it would be worse than political suicide."
• The BBC has a historical primer on the peninsula. It was under Russian control for centuries until Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred it to Ukraine in 1954.

(More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)