US open to recognising Crimea as Russian in Ukraine deal

The US is prepared to recognise Russian control of the Ukrainian region of Crimea as part of a broader peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv, according to people familiar with the matter.

The potential concession is the latest signal that US President Donald Trump is eager to cement a ceasefire deal, and comes as he and Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested on April 18 that the administration is prepared to

move on from its peace-brokering efforts

unless progress is made quickly.

Crimea was taken by the Kremlin in 2014 following an invasion and subsequent referendum held under occupation, and the international community has resisted recognising the peninsula as Russian to avoid legitimising the illegal annexation.

Doing so risks undermining international laws and treaties prohibiting the taking of land through use of force. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly said he will not cede territory to Moscow.

But the move would be a boon for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has long sought international recognition of Russian sovereignty in Crimea. He so far has refused to agree to Mr Trump’s proposal for a broad peace deal.

The people said a final decision on the matter had not yet been taken. The White House and State Department did not respond to a request for comment.

When asked about the possibility of recognising Crimea, a US official familiar with the negotiations declined to comment on the details of the talks.

The US presented allies with proposals to enable a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine in Paris on April 17, including an outline of terms to end the fighting and ease sanctions on Moscow in the event of a lasting ceasefire.

The proposal would by and large freeze the front line, with most other Ukrainian territory now occupied by Russia effectively remaining under Moscow’s control, the people said.

Kyiv’s aspirations of joining Nato would also be off the table. The people declined to provide further specifics, citing the confidential nature of the discussions. 

The Paris talks included a meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and US envoy Steve Witkoff, as well as discussions among Mr Rubio and national security advisers and negotiators from France, Germany, Britain and Ukraine. 

The allies will gather again in London next week to follow up on their discussions. 

Still, Mr Trump signalled impatience at the White House on April 18, saying that while he was hopeful both sides would agree to move forward on a ceasefire, the US was willing to walk away if he sensed either side lacked dedication to the process.

“If for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say, you’re foolish,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.

“You’re fools, you’re horrible people, and we’re going to just take a pass. But hopefully we won’t have to do that.”

Mr Trump’s proposal will need to be further socialised across Europe and with Ukraine, which could balk at the concessions Mr Trump has outlined.

He has also previously said other Ukrainian ambitions – such as joining the Nato alliance – would not be possible.

One of the officials said the US plans, which need to be further discussed with Kyiv, would not amount to a definitive settlement and that European allies would not recognise any occupied territories as Russian.

The officials stressed that talks would be moot if the Kremlin did not agree to stop the fighting, and that providing Ukraine with security guarantees to ensure that a deal holds up were also an essential part of any agreement.

On April 18, Mr Rubio said that security guarantees were not an “illegitimate desire” on Ukraine’s part, but that negotiators so far have not drilled down to that level of specificity. 

“Every sovereign nation on earth has a right to defend itself,” he added.

Kyiv has already agreed to a ceasefire and its position is that Moscow needs to agree to one as well before discussing other matters, a person familiar with the matter said.

In Paris, the Ukrainian delegation’s task was to discuss how any ceasefire would be monitored, as well as a peacekeeping contingent, the person said. 

Russia has continued to bomb Ukrainian cities after balking at a proposed partial truce covering the Black Sea. The Kremlin said a separate, 30-day partial truce covering energy infrastructure ended on April 18.

A week ago, Russian forces fired ballistic missiles, including one equipped with cluster munitions, at Ukraine’s north-eastern city of Sumy, killing 35 people.

The Paris talks also built on French-British efforts to form a post-war “reassurance force” in Ukraine, as well as plans to ensure that Kyiv has an adequately resourced and manned military as part of a package of security guarantees.

Officials in Paris and London are hoping that proposal would demonstrate Europe is serious about committing its own resources to Ukraine’s post-war future and persuade Mr Trump to provide a backstop to those guarantees.

Lifting sanctions while Russia continues to occupy large areas of Ukraine could prove problematic for several of Kyiv’s allies.

Removing European Union restrictions, including unfreezing immobilised assets, requires the backing of all member states. 

Mr Witkoff, who has met Mr Putin three times, told Fox News this week that the key to an overall agreement revolves around “five territories”, without providing more details.

Russia insists that its military seizure of parts of Ukraine since 2014, including the Crimean peninsula and large areas of four regions – Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luhansk and Donetsk – must be recognised in any accord.

Speaking to reporters in Kyiv on April 17, Mr Zelensky lashed out at Mr Witkoff for “adopting Russian strategy”, and said that Mr Trump’s envoy had no “mandate to discuss Ukrainian territories, because these territories belong to our people”.

Mr Zelensky added: “We do not discuss territories until the ceasefire.

“We will never consider Ukrainian lands as Russian.” BLOOMBERG