President Donald Trump welcomes Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House in Washington, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025.

Donald Trump has just claimed that Volodymyr Zelenskyy is ready to cede the occupied Ukrainian territory of Crimea to Russia in a peace deal.

The Black Sea peninsula was illegally annexed by Vladimir Putin in 2014, and the Ukrainian president has been been very clear he does not intend to formally give it up just to secure Trump’s vision of a quick end to the war.

The US president’s remarks follow his meeting with Zelenskyy in the Vatican City, when they were both attending Pope Francis’ funeral.

Speaking to reporters at an airport in New Jersey on his return journey, Trump was asked if he thought Zelenskyy was ready to “give up” the peninsula.

He replied: “Oh, I think........

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