Berlin voices doubt over US peace plan for Ukraine

BERLIN - Germany’s defence minister on April 27 said Ukraine should not cede all territory occupied by Russia in a peace deal proposed by Donald Trump, as the US president pressures Moscow and Kyiv to end fighting.

“Ukraine has, of course, known for some time that a sustainable, credible ceasefire or peace agreement may involve territorial concessions,” Mr Boris Pistorius said, in an interview with the broadcaster ARD.

“But these will certainly not go... as far as they do in the latest proposal from the US president,” Mr Pistorius said.

The US has not revealed details of its peace plan, but has suggested freezing the front line and accepting Russian control of Crimea in exchange for peace.

The Axios news website, citing a US plan presented to Ukrainian officials, said that Washington could offer “de facto” recognition of Russia’s occupation in Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

After weeks of appearing to favour Vladimir Putin in negotiations, Mr Trump on April 26

indicated a new approach

to the Russian president.

“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Mr Trump said, in a post on his Truth Social platform.

“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently,” Mr Trump wrote, threatening Mr Putin with sanctions.

He made the comments shortly after

meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

at St Peter’s Basilica before Pope Francis’ funeral.

Mr Pistorius welcomed the meeting but said: “At the same time, things are changing on a daily basis, you could almost say.”

He added: “The signals (from Mr Trump) are highly contradictory – sometimes very friendly, sometimes very unfriendly... I would say that actions speak for themselves in the end.” AFP