Trump claims Russia-Ukraine peace deal close but accuses Zelenskyy of harming process and having ‘no cards to play’ – as it happened (2025)

It’s 9.15pm in Moscow and Kyiv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

• US vice-president JD Vance urged Ukraine and Russia to accept a US-led peace proposal, threatening that Washington would “walk away” if it was not accepted. The US proposal would mean “we’re going to freeze the territorial lines at some level close to where they are today,” Vance said during a trip to India on Wednesday.

• US president Donald Trump lashed out at Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the Ukrainian leader rejected ceding Crimea to Russia as part of a potential peace plan. Trump, in a Truth Social post on Wednesday, said Zelenskyy is prolonging the “killing field” and making statements that are “very harmful” to the peace negotiations. Crimea was lost years ago “and is not even a point of discussion,” the US president said.

• Zelenskyy said on Tuesday his country could not accept recognising Crimea as Russian territory. “There is nothing new to mention or discuss. Ukraine will not recognise the occupation of Crimea,” he had said, adding that it would be incompatible with Ukraine’s constitution. On Wednesday, Zelenskyy countered with his own peace proposal.

• Ministerial-level Ukraine peace talks that were due to take place in London on Wednesday were postponed at the last minute after the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said he could not attend. UK foreign secretary David Lammy said his discussions with Rubio were productive. The late downgrade came amid speculation that Russia is willing to change its position in separate bilateral peace discussions.

• Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, the foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, and the defence minister, Rustem Umerov instead met with the US envoy, Keith Kellogg, in London. The Ukrainian delegation described the talks as “productive” and “constructive”.

• The Kremlin said Russia is engaged in direct talks with the US over the Ukraine war, but that there are no ongoing discussions with Europe or with Ukraine. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed media reports of what might be in any US-Russian peace proposal, and said there was still a lot to be worked out.

• Nine people were reportedly killed on Wednesday morning when a Russian drone hit a bus carrying workers in the Ukrainian city of Marhanets – one of 134 large drones that Ukrainian authorities reported had attacked the country overnight.

• Russia has imposed sanctions on 15 UK MPs and six members of the House of Lords, banning them from the country over what it called “hostile statements and unfounded accusations” about Moscow.

Ukraine’s defence minister Rustem Umerov said the Ukrainian delegation held “productive” talks with the US envoy, Keith Kellogg, in London on Wednesday.

Umerov, in televised comments, said:

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.

Separately, Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said that during his meeting with Kellog a “constructive exchange of views on the path to peace” took place. He added:

Ukraine wants the war to end more than anyone else in the world. We are committed to working together to achieve this goal.

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US vice-president JD Vance has called on Ukraine and Russia to accept a US-led peace proposal, threatening that Washington would “walk away” if it was not accepted.

Vance, on a trip to India on Wednesday, said there would have to be “some territorial swaps” to reach a deal. He said:

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.

The only way to really stop the killing is for the armies to both put down their weapons, to freeze this thing and to get on with the business of actually building a better Russia and a better Ukraine.

Here’s the clip:

Donald Trump, in a Truth Social post on Wednesday, accused Volodymyr Zelenskyy of making “inflammatory” statements that are “very harmful” to the peace negotiations with Russia.

Trump wrote:

Nobody is asking Zelenskyy 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?

The US president described the situation in Ukraine as being “dire”, and said Zelenskyy “can have peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole country.”

“He has nothing to boast about!” Trump added.

The statement made by Zelenskyy today will do nothing but prolong the ‘killing field,’ and nobody wants that!

Donald Trump’s latest attack on Volodymyr Zelenskyy comes a day after the Ukrainian leader ruled out recognising Crimea as Russian territory as part of a potential peace plan.

Zelenskyy, during a briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday, said Ukraine will not legally recognise Russia’s occupation of Crimea under any circumstances. He told reporters:

There is nothing new to mention or discuss. Ukraine will not recognise the occupation of Crimea.

His remarks came amid speculation that Moscow had told Washington it might be willing to drop its claim to parts of Ukraine it does not occupy, in return for the US recognising the 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Zelenskyy said no such proposal had been shared with him by the White House and that his country could not endorse it.

He also warned that any discussion of Crimea risked shifting negotiations into a framework dictated by the Kremlin, and played directly into Vladimir Putin’s game.

As soon as talks about Crimea and our sovereign territories begin, the talks enter the format that Russia wants — prolonging the war – because it will not be possible to agree on everything quickly.

Russia imposes sanctions on 15 MPs and six members of the House of Lords, banning them from the country over what it called “hostile statements and unfounded accusations” about Moscow.

The Russian foreign affairs ministry published a statement on Wednesday accusing the UK of “fabricating anti-Russian narratives” and attempting to “demonise” the country.

The ministry announced sanctions against 21 British politicians from across the political spectrum, targeting parliamentarians who have called for frozen Russian assets to be seized and used to fund Ukraine’s war effort.

Those sanctioned include Labour MPs Phil Brickell, Jeevun Sandher, Johanna Baxter and Blair McDougall, and the Liberal Democrats’ Alistair Carmichael, Chris Coghlan, Helen Maguire and James MacCleary.

Stephen Gethins of the Scottish National party and Jim Shannon of the Democratic Unionist party were also on the list.

US president Donald Trump chided Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday for saying Ukraine would not recognise Russia’s occupation of Crimea, which he called an inflammatory statement that will make a peace deal with Russia harder to achieve.

“This statement is very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

He said Crimea 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,” Trump added. “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!”

A planned meeting Wednesday between top US, British, French and Ukrainian diplomats to push forward a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine was scrapped at the last minute, with US vice-president JD Vance saying negotiations are reaching a moment of truth.

“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,” Vance told reporters during a visit to Agra, India.

He said it was “a very fair proposal” that would “freeze the territorial lines at some level close to where they are today,” with both sides having to give up some territory they currently hold. He did not provide further details of the proposal, AP reported.

Ukraine said Wednesday that it was “committed” to Washington-led efforts to end the war with Russia after US vice-president JD Vance threatened to abandon negotiations if a deal was not reached soon.

“We emphasised that we are committed to the peace efforts of US president Donald Trump,” Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak said after talks in London with representatives of Kyiv’s allies, adding: “We are grateful to our partners for their firm support and common desire to end the war as soon as possible.”

Russia on Wednesday added 21 British parliamentarians to its list of UK nationals banned from entering the country, reflecting the dire state of relations with London.

Moscow maintains extensive lists of foreign officials, business figures, journalists and others who are barred from entering Russian territory, mostly from countries officially designated as “unfriendly”.

In a statement, Russia’s foreign ministry said that the designated lawmakers had made “hostile statements and unfounded accusations” against Moscow.

They include six members of the House of Lords, along with 15 members of parliament from the governing Labour party, the centrist Liberal Democrats, the Scottish National Party and the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist party.

Members of the French Foreign Legion and British soldiers have started a joint military exercise in northeastern France, applying urban warfare lessons from the conflict in Ukraine, an AFP reporter said.

Here is an extract from the report:

A French officer, perched on a British armoured vehicle camouflaged with branches in the small town of Jeoffrecourt, translated commands for armoured infantry troops from Britain.

The FFL and the Royal Welsh First Battalion were part of a team trying to capture this town of 5,000 residents Tuesday during a two-week training exercise.

The exercises come as French president Emmanuel Macron and British prime minister Keir Starmer are spearheading European efforts to send what they call a “reassurance force” to Ukraine after any end to the war sparked by Russia’s 2022 invasion.

“We look at what is happening in theatres of operation and new modes of action to integrate them,” said Lt Col Romain, an FFL training officer who gave only his first name under French military policy.

A member of his 13th Demi-Brigade toggled a joystick from a basement where a video feed showed footage from the drone he controlled as it flew above the streets.

With just four radios, four laptops and a white sheet serving as a makeshift projection screen, the setup was spartan but for good reason, said the brigade’s commanding officer, Col Benjamin Brunet.

“We drill to change position every six hours,” Brunet said, a lesson gleaned from Ukraine, where adversaries quickly spot the electromagnetic radiation emitted from command posts to destroy them.

For Capt Ed, a British intelligence officer who also could give only his first name, France and Britain have a proven track record of working together because they “share a similar mindset and values”.

“Since 2018, the French and British have been together in Estonia” as part of a mission set up by Nato on its eastern flank, the captain said.

“We are training and we are ready to go anywhere in the world,” he said.

A top Dutch court said Wednesday that the government could stop its support for foreigners living in Ukraine who fled after Russia’s invasion, paving the way for their deportation, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

In its ruling, the Council of State (RvS), the country’s highest administrative court, said the government’s plan to end temporary asylum for the group of about 1,700 people could be implemented.

Many of the refugees hailed from places including Algeria, Turkey and Pakistan and were working or studying in Ukraine at the time of Russia’s invasion in February 2022, reports AFP.

Rights and refugee advocates have criticised the move to expel “third country nationals”. But the court “ruled today that the temporary protection for third-country nationals in Ukraine can end”, the Hague-based court said in a statement.

Government support for this group “can end earlier than for other Ukrainians, stateless persons and third country nationals with a permanent Ukrainian residency permit,” who are still temporarily being sheltered in the Netherlands, the statement said.

The ruling came after previous Dutch government plans to halt the protection for non-Ukrainian nationals ran into legal obstacles including several lawsuits.

The RvS had already ruled in January 2024 that temporary asylum for the group could end on 4 March 2024, before referring the matter to the European court of justice (ECJ) for a legal opinion.

In December, the ECJ confirmed that EU countries could end temporary residency for third-country nationals before other Ukrainian citizens, those with permanent residency status and stateless persons.

“The reason for this is because EU member countries are not obligated to protect this group, although they may choose do so,” said Pieter-Bas Beekman, an RvS spokesperson.

“The Council of State today confirms the decision by the European court of justice, which means that from 4 March last year, protection for third-country residents have ended in the Netherlands,” he said.

There are about 118,000 registered Ukrainian refugees in total in the Netherlands, according to the latest government figures.

Lithuania’s capital Vilnius presented on Wednesday an evacuation plan in case of war, as the Baltic nation worries Russia could target the former Soviet republic next after its invasion of Ukraine, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Lithuania, a Nato and EU member, has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since Moscow’s 2022 invasion, and has since ramped up defence spending and training.

Emergency services have put out a fire at a car park in a shopping mall located in Moscow’s business district, the state Tass news agency reported on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

Videos posted by various Russian media outlets showed black smoke billowing among the district’s skyscrapers on the banks of the Moskva River.

The cause of the explosion and whether anyone was in the vehicle at the time was unclear, reports Reuters.