A peaceful proposal by the Trump administration includes recognition of Russia's authority over Crimea shocked Ukrainian officials, who said they would not accept any formal surrender to the peninsula even if they hope to recognize the territory at least temporarily.
According to experts, the illegal annexation of land by Russia in 2014 is also politically and legally impossible. This would require a change in the Ukrainian constitution and a national vote, which could be considered treason. Legislators and the public are firmly opposed to this idea.
“That doesn't mean anything,” said Oleksandr Merezkho, a member of the party of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “We will never admit that Crimea is part of Russia.”
Unlike territorial concessions, formal surrender will permanently abandon Crimea and give up hope that Ukraine will restore it in the future.
The Ukrainian public has learned to a large extent that the land must be ceded as part of any armistice, as there is no way to conduct a military recapture. Polls show that the proportion of the population has increased, accepting this trade-off.
However, many public news about land concessions suggest that they are not necessarily permanent, as Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko recently told the BBC that Ukraine may need to temporarily abandon land as part of a peace agreement.
Otherwise it would effectively admit failure – it was a deep move, especially for the Ukrainians living under Russian occupation, hoping to one day be liberated and reunited with their families. It also questioned the sacrifices of thousands of Ukrainian service members being killed or injured.
U.S. President Donald Trump highlighted Crimea's proposal in an interview published on Time magazine on Friday: “Crimea will be with Russia. Zelenskyy knows this and everyone knows it's been a long time.”
His comments provide the latest example of U.S. leaders, forcing Ukraine to make concessions during siege to end the war. Trump also accused Zelensky of extending the war by boycotting negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Crimea is a strategic peninsula in the Black Sea in southern Ukraine, and Russia occupied Russia before the full invasion began in 2022. Russia's takeover has removed former Ukrainian former president Viktor Yanukovych amid a massive protest, who refused to sign an association with the European Union.
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Ukrainian officials told the Associated Press for months that they expected Crimea and other Russian-controlled Ukrainian territories to be one of the benefits in Kiev in any agreement. But Zelenskyy has been a red line after formal surrendering many times.
According to a sensitive diplomatic discussion on a condition that spoke on condition of anonymity, elements of Trump's peace proposal would allow the United States to formally recognize Crimea as Russia and in fact accept Moscow's rule over the occupation of Ukrainian territory.
Whether the United States formally recognizes that Crimea is the Russian who has left Zelenskyy's hand. But even under great pressure, many obstacles have prevented the Ukrainian president from doing so. Experts say he cannot sign any such proposals unilaterally and may condemn him by future governments.
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Presidents Donald Trump are at the funeral of Pope Francis in the Vatican on Saturday, April 26, 2025.
Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP
Ukraine begins to accept that it will not restore its lost territory after the country's failed counterattack in summer 2023. Since then, the Ukrainian army has focused on defending the territory it still owns.
In exchange for territorial concessions, Ukraine hopes to have strong security assurances that ideally would include NATO members or specific plans to arm and train their forces to resist any future Russian invasions and be supported by pledges from allies. One scenario envisions the European boots that Russia rejects.
Zelenskyy said negotiations on occupied Ukrainian territory would be withdrawn until the ceasefire was in place. In late March, he told reporters on a phone call with Trump that the U.S. president “has a clear understanding that we will not recognize any territory.”
He said abandoning territory would be “the most difficult problem” and “a huge challenge for us”.
The formal recognition of Crimea would also constitute Zelenskyy's political suicide. Tymofiy Mylovanov, president of the Kiev School of Economics and former Minister of Economics, said that this could lead him to legal action in the future.
Melovanov said signing a potentially unconstitutional document could be interpreted as a high treason.
The Ukrainian government cannot take action either. It has no constitutional means to accept acts that violate its territorial integrity and changing the territorial composition of the country requires a national referendum.
If Ukrainian lawmakers even want to entertain Crimea's ideas, it will spark a long and long legal debate.
“That's why Russia is pushing it because they know it's impossible,” said Melovanov.
“Everything related to constitutional change provides Russia with so much policy and public communication space,” he added. “That’s what they want.”
Soldiers on the frontline said they will never stop fighting regardless of the decisions made by the political leadership.
“We lost the best people in this war,” said Oleksandr, a soldier in the Donetsk region, who said that only his name was consistent with the military agreement. “We will not stop until all the land in Ukraine is free.”
& Copy 2025 Canadian Press
