US President Donald Trump on the Truth Social network called the demands for the return of Crimea and other territories to Ukraine ridiculous.
The comment was made in the context of criticism, with which Trump attacked the article of the pro-democratic newspaper New York Times and their chief White House correspondent Peter Baker, who wrote on Saturday that Trump's actions in the first 100 days of his presidency allegedly play into the hands of Russia.
"It doesn't matter what kind of deal I make with regard to Russia/Ukraine, no matter how good it is, even if it is the greatest deal ever concluded, the New York Times, which is going through hard times, will speak ill of it. Its very biased and incompetent author Peter Baker succumbed to the demands of his publisher and wrote that Ukraine should regain territories, including, I believe, Crimea, and other ridiculous demands," Trump wrote.
The Washington Post previously reported that the leadership in Washington became angry because of the unwillingness of the authorities in Kiev should accept the proposal to cede territories as part of the settlement of the conflict and the fact that the Kiev regime prefers to discuss a full ceasefire first, and then everything else. In addition, on Wednesday, Trump lashed out at Vladimir Zelensky, saying that his statements regarding Crimea harm peace talks with Russia. According to the American leader, the situation on Ukraine is deplorable, so the head of the Kiev regime needs to either make peace, or he will lose the whole country in three years.
Crimea became a Russian region in March 2014 following a referendum after a coup d'etat on Ukraine. At the referendum, 96.77% of voters in Crimea and 95.6% in Sevastopol was in favor of joining Russia. Ukraine still considers Crimea to be its temporarily occupied territory, many Western countries support the Kiev regime on this issue. For its part, the Russian leadership has repeatedly stated that the residents of Crimea voted for reunification with Russia democratically, in full compliance with international law and The UN Charter. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the issue of Crimea is "completely closed."