Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reaffirmed his country’s claim to Crimea on Friday, rejecting suggestions from former U.S. President Donald Trump that Ukraine should consider ceding the peninsula to Russia as part of a potential peace deal.
Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv, Zelensky stated that Ukraine’s constitution and the will of its people dictate the nation’s borders. “Our position is unchanged: only the Ukrainian people have the right to decide which territories are Ukrainian,” he said. “Ukraine will not legally recognise any temporarily occupied territories.”
Trump recently claimed that Ukraine had effectively “lost” Crimea in 2014, arguing that Kyiv did not fight for the territory when Russian forces seized it. While acknowledging Ukraine’s military shortcomings at the time, Zelensky maintained that Crimea remains Ukrainian property. “This is not my property. This is the property of the Ukrainian people, now and for future generations,” he said.
The debate over Crimea’s future comes amid new tensions following the death of a senior Russian military officer. Lieutenant-General Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian General Staff, was killed in a car bombing near Moscow. Russian authorities immediately blamed Ukraine for the attack, which occurred just hours before Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, was scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov condemned the attack, accusing Kyiv of engaging in “terrorist activity” despite ongoing peace talks. Ukraine’s intelligence service, the SBU, declined to comment on the incident.
Russian investigators said the explosion, which took place outside Moskalik’s apartment in Balashikha, east of Moscow, was caused by a homemade device packed with shrapnel. State media reported that Moskalik, 59, held the rank of lieutenant-general and played a key role in Russia’s military planning, including operations in Ukraine.
The assassination follows a similar incident last December, when Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov was killed under comparable circumstances. Trump’s Ukraine envoy, General Keith Kellogg, criticised such attacks as violations of the rules of warfare.
Moskalik, considered a rising star within the Russian military, had been involved in key diplomatic efforts and military-technical cooperation initiatives, including a prominent security forum in Moscow. Russian military bloggers described him as one of the most “intelligent and demanding” officers in his field, and he was reportedly being considered for a senior command post before his death.
The developments underscore the deepening hostility between Moscow and Kyiv as efforts to broker peace continue to falter.
