The Donald Trump administration is considering recognizing the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea as Russian territory as part of any future agreement to end Moscow's war against Kiev, Semafor reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.
Administration officials have also discussed the possibility of the US calling on the UN to do the same.
Crimea was illegally annexed by the Russians in 2014. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine will never recognize the occupied Ukrainian lands as part of the Russian Federation, which has been waging a full-scale war against Ukraine for over three years.
The Crimea information comes hours before a planned phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin - the first since his inauguration (for a second term) as US president.
Trump said that many elements of the final agreement on Ukraine have been agreed, but much work remains. “I look forward to talking with President Putin,“ he said last night.
During his election campaign, Trump said that he would end the war in Ukraine “in 24 hours”. The White House is currently trying to find various ways to end the war, but according to military and political analysts, this would largely be to the detriment of Kiev and reward Putin for his aggression.