Trump says Ukraine should give up some territories to Russia, President's Office responds

Trump made the statements in an interview with Reuters.

Former US president said that if he were president again, a peaceful settlement would be discussed, but that Ukrainians have earned a lot by fighting to protect their land.

“I think they would be entitled to keep much of what they've earned and I think that Russia likewise would agree to that. You need the right mediator, or negotiator, and we don't have that right now," the former US president said.  

US President Joe Biden and NATO allies are demanding that Russia leave the territory it occupied in eastern Ukraine. Last year, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed a 10-point peace plan calling on Russia to withdraw all its troops.

"I think the biggest thing that the U.S. should be doing right now is making peace - getting Russia and Ukraine together and making peace. You can do it. This is the time to do it, to get the two parties together to force peace," Trump added.

The former US president also claimed that Putin's position was undermined by the mutiny of Wagner PMC militants led by Prigozhin.

"You could say that he's (Russian leader Vladimir Putin - ed.) still there, he's still strong, but he certainly has been I would say somewhat weakened at least in the minds of a lot of people. You don't know what the alternative is. It could be better, but it could be far worse," Trump said about the alternatives to Putin as the head of Russia.

In addition, the former US leader advocated not trying to bring the Russian president to justice under the warrant of the International Criminal Court until the end of the war in Ukraine

"Because right now if you bring that topic up you'll never make peace, you'll never make a settlement," he emphasized.

Ukraine's response

Advisor to the head of the Ukrainian President's Office Mykhailo Podolyak said that Ukraine will not give up the territories, it is a matter of self-respect.

“Primitive "territory for peace" deals invariably lead solely to an escalation of the conflict and the next stages of the war... No mature and sovereign country (especially of global level and global agency) will ever agree to such deals if it wants to preserve its self-respect and freedom. And will never offer suicide to other partner countries,” he tweeted. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ukraine?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Ukraine</a> will not give up part of its territory to stop the war. Because primitive &quot;territory for peace&quot; deals invariably lead solely to an escalation of the conflict and the next stages of the war. Any concession to the aggressor inevitably provokes it to a sharp expansion of…</p>&mdash; Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) <a href="https://twitter.com/Podolyak_M/status/1674709637692620800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 30, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

• On May 11, Donald Trump called for a reduction in arms supplies to Ukraine. At the same time, he said that he would be able to end Russia's war against Ukraine if he becomes US president in 2024.