President Donald Trump lashed out at Ukraine’s president, saying Volodymyr Zelensky was prolonging the killing field after pushing back on ceding Crimea to Russia as part of a potential peace plan.

Mr Zelensky ruled out ceding territory to Russia in any deal before talks set for Wednesday in London among U.S., European and Ukrainian officials.

“There is nothing to talk about. It is our land, the land of the Ukrainian people,” Mr Zelensky said.

During similar talks last week in Paris, U.S. officials presented a proposal that included allowing Russia to keep control of occupied Ukrainian territory as part of a deal.

This is according to a European official familiar with the matter who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Mr Trump called Mr Zelenky’s pushback “very harmful” to talks.

“Nobody is asking Zelensky to recognise Crimea as Russian Territory but, if he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it eleven years ago? Eleven years ago, it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired?” he wrote on social media. 

(AP/NAN)