Trump Says Crimea ‘Will Stay With Russia’ Amid Push to Settle Conflict

Trump has traded barbs with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week over how best to settle the ongoing Russia–Ukraine war.

President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr Store in the Oval Office of the White House on April 24, 2025. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Russia will retain control of the Crimean Peninsula, President Donald Trump said in a new interview with Time magazine published on April 25.

Russian forces wrested Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, following a period of societal upheaval in which Russia-friendly former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych fled the country.