Zelensky ready to give up Crimea: Trump

KABUL (Pajhwok): Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is willing to drop claims to Crimea, believes his American counterpart.

Asked by reporters at Morristown Airport in New Jersey if he believed Zelensky was ready to give up Crimea, President Donald Trump replied: “I think so.”

Russia’s TASS news agency quoted Trump as saying: “Nobody brought it up for 12 years, and now they bring it up. So I told him, you can maybe go back to (ex-president) Obama.”

The US leader added: “Ask them why they gave it up. They gave it up without a shot being fired, by the way.”

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had a phone conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow said.

A statement from the ministry said: “The parties continued a fruitful exchange of views on the key aspects of Russia-US political dialogue, which has significantly intensified recently.”

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and US Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff held their fourth meeting in the past four months.

Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov characterised the conversation, lasting three hours, as constructive and useful.

PAN Monitor/mud