Russia and Ukraine have traded new barbs over faltering peace efforts, with Moscow accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of blocking diplomacy and Kyiv saying Russian President Vladimir Putin wants the war to continue.
US President Donald Trump has said he will walk away from trying to negotiate a settlement to end Russia's war in Ukraine if Kyiv and Moscow do not make a deal soon.
Control of Crimea, seized and annexed by Russia in 2014, has emerged as a major sticking point between Moscow and Kyiv, and Zelensky angered Trump by reiterating on Tuesday that he would not recognise the peninsula as part of Russia.
Trump wrote on social media on Wednesday that Crimea was lost years ago "and is not even a point of discussion".
Asked about that remark on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a daily news briefing that Trump's position "completely corresponds with our understanding and with what we have been saying for a long time".
Peskov said Russia was continuing to work with the Americans to achieve a peace settlement that ensures Moscow's interests are taken into account.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a separate briefing it was becoming clearer by the minute that Zelensky lacked the capacity to negotiate a deal to end the war.
She accused him of derailing talks on Ukraine on Wednesday in London involving US, Ukrainian and European officials, and said the Ukrainian leader was clearly ready to "torpedo the emerging peace process at any cost".
"Yesterday Zelensky categorically refused to make any concessions," Zakharova said. "And demonstratively expressed his desire to negotiate only a ceasefire – and even then on his own terms."
Ukraine says it wants a just peace and that Russia is dragging out talks and trying to win time to grab more Ukrainian land in addition to territory it already holds in Crimea and four eastern Ukrainian regions.
Residents watch a rescue operation after a Russian strike on a residential building in Kyiv. – Reuters
Ukrainian officials stepped up their criticism after an overnight Russian missile and drone strike on Kyiv that killed at least eight people.
"Yesterday's Russian maximalist demands for Ukraine to withdraw from its regions, combined with these brutal strikes, show that Russia, not Ukraine, is the obstacle to peace," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Syhiba wrote online.
"Putin demonstrates through his actions, not words, that he does not respect any peace efforts and only wants to continue the war."
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 following a disputed referendum condemned by the United Nations General Assembly, the US, Ukraine and many other countries.
Putin said at the time that Crimea, which changed hands between Russia and Ukraine during Soviet rule in 1954, has always been and remains an inseparable part of Russia.
Zelensky said recognising Crimea as part of Russia would violate Ukraine's constitution. Its annexation has been recognised by few countries.
Crimea is home to Russia's Black Sea fleet, and Russia has used the peninsula to launch missile and drone attacks on Ukraine during the war. Kyiv has also fired missiles at Crimea.
Ukraine says it is committed to seeking a full and unconditional ceasefire. After talks with the US, Ukraine agreed to a 30-day truce last month but Putin responded with a list of conditions and questions, saying such a pause would give Ukraine the chance to mobilise more soldiers and acquire more weapons.
Zakharova said decisions by European countries to continue supplying weapons to Kyiv were encouraging Zelensky to pursue the war, regardless of casualties, and that their attitude showed some European countries were frightened by the prospect of a Russian victory.
European countries supplying arms to Kyiv say it needs weapons to defend itself following Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 in which tens of thousands of people have been killed, millions have been displaced and towns across Ukraine devastated.
Where is Crimea and why is it contested?
The Crimean peninsula, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014, is at the centre of the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War.
The issue led to another clash between US President Donald Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday. Trump chided the Ukrainian leader for refusing to recognise Russia's occupation of Crimea as part of a US peace deal to end the war in Ukraine.
Zelensky has said that Ukraine would never cede Crimea to Russia.
A man rides a scooter past a banner promoting Russia military service in Crimea. – Reuters
History
Crimea, which juts out into the Black Sea off southern Ukraine, was absorbed into the Russian Empire along with most ethnic Ukrainian territory by Catherine the Great in the 18th century. Russia's Black Sea naval base at Sevastopol was founded soon afterwards.
More than half a million people were killed in the Crimean War of 1853-56 when competing geopolitical powers Russia and the Ottoman Empire, backed by Britain and France, took up arms. The conflict reshaped Europe and paved the way for World War One.
In 1921, the peninsula, then populated mainly by Muslim Tatars, became part of the Soviet Union. The Tatars were deported en masse by Soviet leader Josef Stalin at the end of World War Two for alleged collaboration with the Nazis.
Crimea became part of Russia within the Soviet Union until 1954, when it was handed to Ukraine, also then a Soviet Republic, by Stalin's successor Nikita Khrushchev, a Ukrainian.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, there were periodic political tussles over its status between Moscow and Kyiv before Russia captured Crimea by force in 2014.
Russian seizure of Crimea
Russia sent forces into Crimea and seized control of the peninsula after Ukraine's pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, was ousted during mass protests in February 2014.
After Crimea voted in a disputed referendum to become part of Russia, Russia formally annexed Crimea on March 18, 2014, with Putin saying Crimea has always been and remains an inseparable part of Russia.
The United Nations General Assembly, the United States and many other countries condemned the annexation, and the US and the European Union imposed sanctions on Russia over its moves. Few countries have recognised Crimea as part of the Russian Federation but the Kremlin has said the question has been closed "forever".
What has Zelensky said about Crimea?
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out ceding territory occupied by Russian forces and has said Ukrainian sovereignty of Crimea must be restored through diplomacy.
Military significance
Russia's Black Sea base in Sevastopol, which was leased from Ukraine, gives Moscow access to the Mediterranean.
Russia has frequently used Crimea as a launchpad for missile and drone attacks on Ukraine since sending tens of thousands of troops into the country on February 24, 2022 in what Putin calls a "special military operation". Ukrainian forces have also fired missiles at Crimea since Russia's 2022 invasion.
After its full-scale invasion in 2022, Russia enforced a de facto blockade of Ukraine's Black Sea ports which severely restricted grain exports that had been vital to Kyiv's pre-war economy. This resulted in a rise in world food prices and the threat of famine in lower-income countries. A deal known as the Black Sea Grain Initiative was reached in July 2022 to allow safe passage from certain ports but it later collapsed.
Geography
The mountainous peninsula is attached to the rest of Ukraine by a narrow strip of land in the north. To the east, it is separated from Russia by the narrow Kerch Strait. A bridge built by Russia across the strait has been damaged during the war.
With an area of 27,000 sq km (10,000 sq miles), Crimea is slightly smaller than Belgium, with the city of Simferopol as its capital.
Population
The pre-war population was around 2 million. Ukraine's 2001 census showed around 58 per cent were ethnic Russian, 24 per cent ethnic Ukrainian and 12 per cent Tatars.
Economy
Crimea's temperate climate made it a popular tourist destination for Ukrainians and Russians before the Russia-Ukraine war, especially Yalta, where the Soviet, US and British victors of World War Two met in 1945 to discuss the future shape of Europe.
Before the 2022 invasion, it accounted for 3 per cent of Ukraine's gross domestic product. Wheat, corn and sunflowers are the main crops.
Crimea has chemical processing plants and iron ore is mined in Kerch in eastern Crimea. Ukraine has two grain terminals in Crimea – in Kerch and in Sevastopol.