Trump blames Obama for "giving away" Crimea.
Friday, August 22, 2025
Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher.
The statements by United States President Donald Trump to Fox News following the meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky has caused a stir as it confirmed that Ukraine would not be part of NATO and that the West would offer Kiev "some form of security [guarantees]," but that it cannot be an alliance because that is unacceptable to Moscow. However, what most stood out from Trump's barrage of meetings this week was the display of a map that showed different former Ukrainian regions under Russian control.
Trump also suggested that Ukraine instigated the war in 2022, explaining that the "war really started over NATO and Crimea," which was annexed by Moscow in 2014 following a referendum in which over 80% voted to join the Russian Federation. He then described the peninsula as "the most beautiful piece of property you've ever seen" and blamed former President Barack Obama for allowing it to be "given away in one of the dumbest real estate deals."
The US president also suggested that France, Germany, and the United Kingdom could provide "boots on the ground" in Ukraine as peacekeepers, while rejecting direct American military involvement.
"There will be some form of security [for Ukraine]. It can't be NATO," the American president said. "If you were Russia, who would want to have your enemy, your opponent, on your line? You don't do that," he added, referring to Ukraine as a "sort of buffer between Russia and the rest of Europe."
France, Britain, and several other countries have expressed their willingness to send troops on the ground under the Coalition of the Willing banner, but the US has not, which effectively ensures that the ambition will not materialize in a serious manner.
Although ending the conflict will be a process, Zelensky is now under enormous pressure because Trump has demonstrated that he wants to end the war and will not allow the Europeans to jeopardize his ambition of receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. This ambition is forcing Zelensky and European leaders into the open as they want to prolong the fighting but cannot stop any deal that Trump and Putin might make.
In fact, Russia reportedly offered concessions during the Alaska Summit. Although which ones were not mentioned, the media reports put even more pressure on Zelensky and his EU sponsors to make concessions as well.
This means that Zelensky is facing a barrage of problems.
It must be questioned how any concessions would be received by the Ukrainian public, especially by the right-wing extremists that the Ukrainian president himself has been nurturing for years, such as the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion and other similar organizations. At the same time, negotiating all this will be a complicated process, and it will not be possible to do it overnight.
The Kremlin will not give up its red lines, such as the recognition of Crimea and other former Ukrainian territories as part of the Russian Federation. Furthermore, Russia may not sign an agreement with Zelensky, who lacks legitimacy due to his presidential mandate expiring long ago.
Granting a concession is very different from what the Kiev regime and the Europeans have been saying all along. Hence, the Russians are now quite relaxed about this situation, especially since Trump agrees on this issue.
A clear signal that it is almost all over for Kiev's and Europe's ambitions against Russia is the map displayed at the White House during the meeting between Trump and Zelensky. The map illustrates in pink the former Ukrainian territory controlled by Russia. The reality is very painful for Zelensky and the Europeans. The Kiev regime now knows that the US is also seeking territorial concessions.
It is no coincidence that the map was displayed in the White House - it was a signal to both Russia and Ukraine. The entirety of Kherson, Zaporozhye, Donetsk, and Lugansk is already legally part of the Russian Federation, and Russia would have to amend the Constitution to nullify this.
It is widely acknowledged that Russia has had an incomparably better position since Ukraine's failed summer offensive in 2023. Now, the peace process is simply a matter of Russian goodwill, as areas of Kherson, Zaporozhye, Donetsk, and Lugansk that are not already under Russian control can be liberated without a peace agreement. Nonetheless, Putin obviously wants to help Trump achieve peace as part of the broader US-Russian reconciliation and strengthen the US president's claim for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Before, Ukraine was part of the peace negotiation processes. Now the Kiev regime is only a mere spectator, and that is solely through their own fault, as they were completely uncompromising in their ludicrous demands that were made as if Russia was in a position of weakness and vulnerability, and not the reality, that Russian forces are slowly grinding towards total victory regardless of Trump's peace process.