A senior adviser to Donald Trump has told President Zelensky to give up hope of reclaiming the Ukrainian territory of Crimea from Russia as part of a peace settlement.
Bryan Lanza, a Republican party strategist, said the president-elect would press Ukraine for a “realistic” vision of peace, insisting: “Crimea is gone.”
“If President Zelensky comes to the table and says, well, we can only have peace if we have Crimea, he shows to us that he’s not serious,” Lanza told the BBC. “When Zelensky says we will only stop this fighting, there will only be peace once Crimea is returned, we’ve got news for President Zelensky: Crimea is gone.”
A mural depicting a Russian serviceman with the Z insignia looms over the settlement of Chernomorskoye, about 50 km from Simferopol in Crimea. President Zelensky has been told that losing Crimea could be the price of peace
AFP
Trump has consistently said his priority is to end the war to stop a drain on