• Saturday, 19 July 2025

Trump tells Time magazine that Crimea will stay under Russian control

Trump tells Time magazine that Crimea will stay under Russian control

Washington, 25 April 2025 (dpa/MIA) - US President Donald Trump repeated in an interview with Time magazine that Crimea will remain under Russian control as part of a peace agreement with Ukraine.

"Crimea will stay with Russia. And [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky understands that, and everybody understands that it's been with them for a long time," Trump told the magazine in an interview conducted on Tuesday but published on Friday.

Russia occupied the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula in 2014 and subsequently annexed it in violation of international law.

On Thursday, Trump stated in response to a question about Crimea that Ukraine had lost the peninsula 11 years ago when it did not fight the Russian occupation then and it would be tough to get it back now.

"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?" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Thursday.

In the Time interview, Trump also blamed Ukraine for causing the war with its desire to join NATO.

"I think what caused the war to start was when they [Ukraine] started talking about joining NATO," Trump told Time.

"If that weren't brought up, there would have been a much better chance that it wouldn't have started," he said.

The US president also repeated that Ukraine will not be able to join NATO.

"I don't think they'll ever be able to join NATO," Trump said.

Photo: "Time" cover