Russian forces seizing Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula in 2014

EA-Times Radio VideoCast: Zelensky Withstands Putin and Trump

EA-Times Radio VideoCast: Putin and Trump’s “Nonsense Deal” on Ukraine

Tuesday’s Coverage: Russia Considering Offer of Trump Tower Moscow to Ensure Donald’s Support

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 2139 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has commented on a turbulent day in London amid the Trump Administration’s high-level withdrawal from discussions:

UPDATE 1841 GMT:

Defense Minister Rustem Umerov says Ukraine’s delegation had positive talks with Donald Trump’s envoy Keith Kellogg in London, after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio refused to attend the discussions.

“We talked about our consistent position regarding a ceasefire, also about security guarantees. For my part, I believe the meeting was very productive and successful,” Umerov said.

UPDATE 1738 GMT:

With Ukraine rejecting his ultimatum to give up territory to Russia, Donald Trump has thrown a tantrum, assailing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Reinforcing his support of the Kremlin’s occupation of Crimea, he said the peninsula was lost years ago “and is not even a point of discussion”:

We are very close to a Deal, but the man with ‘no cards to play’ should now, finally, GET IT DONE.

I look forward to being able to help Ukraine and Russia get out of this Complete and Total MESS, that would have never started if I were President!

He blustered, with no knowledge about Russia’s seizure of the peninsula in 2014, “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?”

“He has nothing to boast about!” Trump sneered. “The statement made by Zelensky today will do nothing but prolong the ‘killing field,’ and nobody wants that!”

UPDATE 1415 GMT:

Russian drones and artillery have assaulted electricity transformers in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine.

Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the southern Kherson regional defense command, said shells and kamikaze drones launched from the left bank of the Dnipro River “have been massively attacking one of the key enterprises of our energy infrastructure for more than a day….in the morning, the Russians achieved their goal by destroying the energy facility.”

Russia agreed to a 30-day halt on energy infrastructure on March 18, but continued daily drone and missile strikes. Last week, the Kremlin confirmed that it was not extending the pause.

UPDATE 1403 GMT:

Reuters reports that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio withdrew from talks in London after Ukraine, in a document to European partners on Tuesday, said it will not enter negotiations on territorial issues until “a full and unconditional ceasefire” has been achieved.

A US official told Axios that Ukraine’s delegation intended to focus on negotiating a 30-day ceasefire, rather than discussing the Trump Administration’s proposal including the cession of territory to Russia.

UPDATE 1354 GMT:

The UK Prime Minister’s office remains “absolutely committed” to securing a “just and lasting peace in Ukraine” after the Trump Administration’s withdrawal from multilateral talks in London.

Keir Starmer’s official spokesperson referred to Ukraine and Europe’s “substantive technical meetings” with lower-level US officials: “These talks today are an important part of that [commitment to peace].”

The office of French President Emmanuel Macron pushed back against the Trump proposal for Ukraine to give up territory to Russia: “Ukraine’s territorial integrity and European aspirations are very strong requirements for Europeans.”

UPDATE 1212 GMT:

Ukraine Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Sydyrenko has emphasized, amid reports of a US proposal recognizing Russia’s ownership or long-term control of four Ukrainian regions and Crimea:

Speaking from India, Vice President J.D. Vance reissued the Trump Administration’s ultimatum, “We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say yes, or for the United States to walk away from this process.”

UPDATE 0754 GMT:

Citing “sources with direct knowledge”, Axios posts more details of the one-page Trump Administration “final offer” to Ukraine over Russia’s invasion.

In addition to the Administration’s legal recognition of Crimea as part of Russia, it would grant de facto recognition of Russian control of almost all areas occupied in four Ukrainian regions since February 2022.

The Administration pledges that Ukraine will not join NATO, although it could become part of the European Union.

The US and Russia would pursue “enhanced economic cooperation”, particularly in the energy and industrial sectors.

The Administration says Ukraine would get security guarantees, but offers no substance of what these include. It cites compensation and assistance for rebuilding, but gives no sources for the funding.

A “source close to the Ukrainian government” noted, “The proposal says very clearly what tangible gains Russia gets, but only vaguely and generally says what Ukraine is going to get.”

UPDATE 0832 GMT:

The Trump Administration has disbanded an inter-agency working group coordinating US intelligence on Russian atrocities in Ukraine.

The initiative was created through legislation co-written by Reps. Jason Crow and Mike Waltz, who is now National Security Advisor.

The Administration has also withdrawn from an international group. led by the EU, created to punish Moscow for violating international law. The Justice Department’s War Crimes Accountability Team has been scaled back, and a program to seize assets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs has been dismantled.

The Trump camp also paused the effort to help Ukraine find children who were forcibly deported to Russia or Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine during Moscow’s full-scale invasion. After criticism from Christian evangelical groups and some Republicans, the Administration is allowing the program to continue until data transfer to international monitors is completed.

Rep. Crow said on Tuesday that if Trump and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard “want to achieve lasting peace, they must be willing to hold Putin accountable for the crimes he’s committed in Ukraine. So far, this administration has shown they’re willing to let Putin off the hook.”

UPDATE 0746 GMT:

Two Ukrainian women from the Russian-occupied area of Zaporizhzhia have been sentenced to 14 years in a penal colony by a Russian court in the region.

L.A. Kachkareva and S.N. Dolgopolova were condemned for “treason” because they allegedly transferred funds to Ukraine’s military.

The women were detained in December 2023. Russian authorities said they confessed in court and expressed remorse for their actions.

Prosecutors claimed that one of the women transferred around 5,000 hryvnias ($120) to a foreign bank account, allegedly used by Ukrainian intelligence services since January 2024. The second woman reportedly sent 2,400 hryvnias ($57) from her mother-in-law’s account to Ukraine’s armed forces in May 2023.

In a video published by Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee, one of the women said she transferred 100–200 hryvnias ($2-$5): “I was just watching an entertainment channel, and there was an appeal. They asked for repairs, for help.”

UPDATE 0704 GMT:

Top diplomats from the UK, France, and Germany, as well as Ukraine Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, have reportedly pulled out of today’s meeting with Trump Administration representatives in London on Wednesday.

The decision follows the withdrawal of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s envoy to Russia, real estate developer Steve Witkoff, possibly because Kyiv is rejecting the Administration’s proposal for occupied Crimea to be handed over to Russia.

Discussions will now take place behind closed doors among senior officials from the five nations. Sybiha will hold a bilateral meeting with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

Ukraine Presidential Chief of Staff Andrii Yermak posted:

Despite everything, we will work for peace.

Today we will talk about ways to achieve a complete and unconditional ceasefire as the first step towards a full-fledged settlement process and achieving a just and sustainable peace.

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha added:

UPDATE 0634 GMT:

At least nine civilians have been killed and 30 injured by a Russian drone attack on Marhanets in the Dnipropetrovsk region in south-central Ukraine.

One UAV struck a bus carrying employees of a company.

On Tuesday, at least four civilians were slain and 88 injured.

Three civilians were slain by a drone assault on a residential area in Myrnograd in eastern Ukraine. A 69-year-old woman was killed and at least 40 people wounded by two laser-guided bombs on Zaporizhzhia city in the south.

Other casualties were reported in the Poltava, Kherson, Kharkiv, and Odesa regions.

UPDATE 0613 GMT:

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has summoned China’s Ambassador to Kyiv for discussions about possible military support by Beijing for Russia’s invasion.

Kp>The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it “stressed that the participation of Chinese citizens in hostilities against Ukraine on the side of the aggressor state, as well as the involvement of Chinese companies in the production of military products in Russia, are of serious concern and contradict the spirit of partnership between Ukraine and China”.

Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhen Perebyinis “called on the Chinese side to take measures to stop supporting Russia in its aggression against Ukraine, the absence of which has been repeatedly stated by Beijing”.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday:

“I asked the Security Service of Ukraine to transfer information of a broader nature to the Chinese side regarding Chinese citizens who work at the drone factory [in Russia]. We believe that it may be that Russia stole – made an agreement with these citizens outside the agreements with the Chinese leadership – stole these technologies.

Zelensky spoke last week of Ukrainian intelligence confirming Chinese supply of weapons to Russia, including gunpowder and artillery, with Chinese representatives involved in weapons production on Russian territory. China denied the claims.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: The Trump Administration is pressing Ukraine to cede the occupied Crimea peninsula to Russia, as part of the price for halting the 38-month full-scale Russian invasion.

Sources have told the Wall Street Journal that Trump representatives, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and real estate developer Steve Witkoff, put the proposal to Ukrainian and European officials last Thursday in Paris.

The Americans also said Ukraine should give up any hope of NATO membership, and that the US should take over the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant — Europe’s largest — in southern Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin added, in a meeting in St. Petersburg with Witkoff earlier this month, that Russia will maintain its control of parts of four regions — Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the south and Donetsk and Luhansk in the east — as well as Crimea.

Putin presented the seizure as a “concession”, stepping back from his “annexation” of all of the four regions in September 2022.

Ukraine liberated parts of Kherson, including Kherson city; Zaporizhzhia; and Donetsk weeks later.

A European official summarizes, “There is a lot of pressure on Kyiv right now to give up on things so Trump can claim victory.”

Trump Administration Disarray?

However, the status of the American proposals was thrown into doubt on Tuesday when Rubio and Witkoff pulled out of today’s second meeting with Ukrainian and European officials.

The American delegation will be led instead by Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out any cession, which is also forbidden by the country’s Constitution.

Ukraine will not recognize the occupation of Crimea. It’s our territory, the territory of the people of Ukraine, there is nothing to discuss here.

Zelensky said on Tuesday that he has not received a proposal from Trump with specific steps to end Russia’s invasion: “There are signals, ideas, discussions, but it isn’t an official proposition.”

If an official proposal was sent, “we will answer”, the President assured.

And I explain why European Union and international financial support of Ukraine is now more important than further EU sanctions on Russia.

I am somewhat more “half-full” than James because I think some in the US will also support a bolstered Ukraine, even if it has to give up some territory under occupation.