US Open to Recognizing Crimea as Russian in Ukraine Deal

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Trump’s proposal will need to be further socialized across Europe and with Ukraine, which could balk at the concessions Trump has outlined. The US president has also previously said other Ukrainian ambitions — like joining the NATO alliance — would not be possible.

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One of the officials said the US plans, which need to be further discussed with Kyiv, wouldn’t amount to a definitive settlement, and that European allies wouldn’t recognize any occupied territories as Russian. The officials stressed that talks would be moot if the Kremlin didn’t 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.

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On Friday, Rubio said that security guarantees aren’t an “illegitimate desire” on Ukraine’s part, but that negotiators so far haven’t drilled down to that level of specificity. 

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“Every sovereign nation on Earth has a right to defend itself,” he said.

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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. 

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

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The Paris talks also built on France-UK efforts to form a postwar “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.

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

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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 immobilized assets, requires the backing of all member states. 

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Witkoff, who has met 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 recognized in any accord.

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

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“We do not discuss territories until the ceasefire,” the Ukrainian president said. “We will never consider Ukrainian lands as Russian.”

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—With assistance from Eric Martin and Kate Sullivan.

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(Updates throughout with additional context)

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