Ukraine considers territorial concessions amid Trump pressure
The Mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, told the BBC that Ukraine may be compelled to surrender part of its territory as part of a peace agreement with Russia. This decision might be influenced by mounting pressure from Donald Trump.
Klitschko stated, "One scenario is to give up territory. This is not fair. But for peace, temporary peace, maybe this can be a solution, temporary,” he said.
Klitschko on territorial concessions
The 53-year-old former boxing champion, now a politician, emphasised that the Ukrainian nation "will never accept occupation" by Russia.
This statement came a few hours after a massive and combined Russian attack on Kyiv, which resulted in the death of 12 people and left over 80 injured. It was one of the bloodiest Russian attacks on the Ukrainian capital in months.
The Russian leader Vladimir Putin began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Moscow currently controls about 20 percent of the country's territory. In the 'Today' programme on BBC Radio 4, conducted in his office in central Kyiv on Thursday, Klitschko noted that he is "responsible for the capital of Ukraine," describing it as the "heart" of the war-torn country.
He admitted that President Volodymyr Zelensky may be forced to make a "painful solution" to achieve peace.
The Mayor of Kyiv is currently one of the highest-ranking Ukrainian politicians publicly suggesting that the country may be forced to give up some territory, even temporarily.
Klitschko and Zelensky are political rivals
Asked if Zelensky discussed the details of a possible agreement with him, Klitschko briefly replied: "No."
President Zelensky does [it] himself. It’s not my function," he added.
Klitschko and Zelensky are political rivals. The mayor has repeatedly accused the president and his team of trying to undermine his authority.
He also referred to the famous conflict between Zelensky and Trump, which took place at the White House in February, suggesting that key issues among top politicians should be discussed "without video cameras."
This week, Trump accused Zelensky of hindering peace talks, after the Ukrainian president once again ruled out the possibility of recognising Russian control over Crimea—the southern peninsula of Ukraine illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014.
Trump stated that Crimea was "lost years ago" and "is not even a part of discussion."
Zelensky, on the other hand, reminded of the "Crimea Declaration" from 2018, in which then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared that the "United States rejects Russia's attempted annexation of Crimea."
In recent weeks, Ukraine and its European allies have expressed concern over what many on the continent perceive as warming relations between Trump and Vladimir Putin's Russia.
