Ukraine defiant on U.S. pressure as Trump accuses Zelensky of ‘boasting’
The Washington Post April 23, 2025
Ukraine is insisting on a full ceasefire in order to negotiate with Russia, as U.S. officials — hoping for a quick solution — backed out of London talks.
By Siobhán O'Grady, Steve Hendrix and Adam Taylor
KYIV — President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance insisted Wednesday that Ukraine needed to make concessions to ensure peace, prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to push back and demand that Russia must accept a full ceasefire before negotiations.
Trump accused Zelensky on Wednesday of “boasting” after the Ukrainian leader told reporters the day before that Kyiv will never recognize Crimea as Russian territory. “He can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We are very close to a Deal, but the man with ‘no cards to play’ should now, finally, GET IT DONE.”
Trump’s post came shortly after Vance warned that the White House could walk away from its own peace deal if progress is not made soon.
Zelensky responded in a late-evening message that there were “many emotions” throughout the day but said that Ukraine was grateful for its partners. The Ukrainian leader added that he hoped the United States would comply with its past decisions, sharing a link to the declaration made by the first Trump administration that refused to recognize Russian sovereignty of Crimea.
The 2018 declaration, made by then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, called the Crimean Peninsula a “territory seized by force in contravention of international law.”
U.S. officials presented a proposal last week that apparently included leaving Russia with 20 percent of the Ukrainian land it now occupies, while also denying Ukraine NATO membership and security guarantees. Washington has also proposed U.S. recognition of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea as well as the eventual lifting of sanctions on Moscow. Trump wrote Wednesday that despite Zelensky’s comments, Washington is not asking Ukraine to recognize Crimea as Russian.
Washington’s growing rift with Kyiv over its refusal to accept talk of territorial concessions without an initial truce played out publicly earlier Wednesday, as European officials, set to meet a high-level Ukrainian delegation in London, had to downgrade the talks after top U.S. officials abruptly canceled plans to attend.
After his delegation arrived in London, Zelensky doubled down on the need for a full ceasefire, pointing to a Russian drone attack that struck a bus of factory workers in the country’s Dnipropetrovsk region, killing nine people and wounding dozens of others.
“We in Ukraine insist on an immediate, full, and unconditional ceasefire,” Zelensky announced Wednesday. “We are also ready for an immediate ceasefire at least for civilian targets and have already stated this. This should be a shared first priority with all partners — saving lives.”
His comments demonstrate a growing willingness in Kyiv to push back on U.S. pressure for a deal at any cost, especially after months of anxiety in Ukraine after Trump and Vance’s dressing down of Zelensky in the Oval Office spurred brief military aid and intelligence cuts. Talk of an immediate ceasefire has ramped up after several major Russian attacks on civilians, including one that hit a playground and another that struck civilians on Palm Sunday.
Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, who has been overseeing the minerals deal Trump is seeking to ink with Ukraine, also wrote an unusually strongly worded message on X on Wednesday, declaring that “Ukraine is ready to negotiate — but not to surrender.”
“There will be no agreement that hands Russia the stronger foundations it needs to regroup and return with greater violence. A full ceasefire — on land, in the air, and at sea — is the necessary first step. If Russia opts for a limited pause, Ukraine will respond in kind,” she wrote.
She also said Ukraine will never recognize Russian occupation of Crimea and will require “binding security guarantees” if NATO denies Ukraine membership.
Lower-level talks took place Wednesday in London, but “the foreign minister-level meeting isn’t happening,” said a diplomat familiar with the talks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations after Secretary 0f State Marco Rubio canceled and the other foreign ministers followed suit.
Rubio had been scheduled to fly to London on Tuesday night. Steve Witkoff, a special envoy and close ally of Trump’s who is central to White House efforts to broker an end to the war, also dropped out. Witkoff will travel to Moscow for meetings on Friday, according to a person familiar with his schedule who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the envoy’s plans.
The State Department played down the significance of Rubio’s last-minute decision to skip the London meeting, made just hours before he was scheduled to take off.
“Secretary Rubio is a busy man,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said Tuesday. “While the meetings in London are still occurring, he will not be attending, but that is not a statement regarding the meetings. It’s a statement about logistical issues in his schedule.”
The meetings in London were attended by retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for the Ukraine war. Kellogg wrote on social media that talks had been “positive” and that it was time to “move forward” on Trump’s directive to end the war. “Stop the killing, achieve peace, and put America First,” Kellogg wrote.
Vance, traveling in India on Wednesday, repeated warnings that the U.S. would walk away from its efforts to broker a peace accord if Moscow and Kyiv didn’t reach an agreement soon.
“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,” he told reporters in Agra while visiting the Taj Mahal. “We’re going to see if the Europeans, the Russians and the Ukrainians are ultimately able to get this thing over the finish line.”
He said the proposal would freeze the current battle lines where they are today while a long-term diplomatic settlement was achieved. Both sides would have to give up some territory they currently control, Vance said.
The Russians, watching from the sidelines, said the collapse of the London talks showed how far apart Ukrainian and American officials remain on the basic contours of a peace deal.
“As far as we understand, it has not yet been possible to reconcile positions on some issues, which is why this meeting has not taken place yet,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday. “We continue our contacts with the Americans. We have no contacts with the Europeans; we have no contacts with the Ukrainians, either, although President [Vladimir] Putin remains open to such contacts in the interest of reconciliation.”
Ukraine’s ambassador to the Vatican, Andrii Yurash, called for high-level talks to resume in Rome this weekend, when Zelensky, Trump and other leaders are expected to attend the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday.
“Any number of meetings at various levels is entirely possible,” Yurash said during a television appearance in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s hopes for progress on a viable ceasefire ahead of any concessions are grounded in the unrelenting Russian attacks on the country.
In addition to the drone attack that killed the factory workers Wednesday, Russia attacked energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s Kherson region, said the head of the region’s military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin. He also called on local residents to limit their use of electricity as workers rushed to try to repair damage from the strikes.
The prospects of a ceasefire felt even more distant early Thursday local time, as Russia launched a large-scale air attack on Kyiv. Air raid sirens blared, then gunfire and explosions echoed throughout the city center as troops tried to shoot down missiles and drones overhead.
Hendrix reported from London and Taylor from Washington. Natalie Allison in Agra, India, and Serhiy Morgunov in Potsdam, Germany, contributed to this report.🔺
