The Trump administration is mulling giving recognition of Russian sovereignty over the Crimea region as part of any future agreement to end the Ukraine war, according to a report in Semafor.
"Administration officials have also discussed the possibility of having the US urge the United Nations to do the same, according to both people," the report says. "Such a request would align the Trump administration with the position of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has long seen Crimea as his nation's territory."
Semafor emphasizes, however, that no official decision has been made, with National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes telling the outlet that the White House has "made no such commitments and we will not negotiate this deal through the media."
"Just two weeks ago, both Ukraine and Russia were miles apart on a ceasefire agreement, and we are now closer to a deal thanks to the leadership of President Trump. The goal remains the same: stop the killing and find a peaceful resolution to this conflict," Hughes described.
Recognition of Crimea should in reality be the easiest concession, as historically Russia's Black Sea naval fleet has always been positioned there, and the population is overwhelmingly Russian-speaking, as the 2014 popular referendum to join the Russian Federation demonstrated.
Ukraine's President Zelensky has at various times throughout the conflict said Ukraine will never give it up, and there have been somewhat regular waves of drone and missile on Sevastopol - but Kiev is likely to let it go permanently before it gives up the Donbass.
In November of 2024 Fox journalist Trey Yingst had pressed Zelensky on the Crimea question in an interview.
Yingst had asked: "President Vladimir Putin has been very clear Crimea will never return to Ukrainian hands. Are you willing to give up Crimea in pursuit of a peace deal to end this war and stop the bloodshed in Europe?"
"I was already mentioning that we are ready to bring Crimea back diplomatically," Zelensky responded. "We cannot spend dozens of thousands of our people so that they perish for the sake of Crimea coming back ... We understand that Crimea can be brought back diplomatically."
So Kiev may yet cling to the hope that Crimea won't be permanently lost; however, Russia is clearly never going to entertain anything short of full recognition of the key peninsula as Russian.
CNN in 2014: "There's overwhelming support for the territory to rejoin the Russian Federation, as thousands of people turned out to vote in the referendum. This city has extremely close historical and cultural ties with what people call the motherland."
In 2014, CNN and just about every other media outlet reported that Crimea overwhelmingly voted to join Russia. Anyone claiming otherwise is a liar who is trying to rewrite history.
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 17, 2025
"There's overwhelming support for the territory to rejoin the Russian Federation, as thousands of… pic.twitter.com/XElcZNHOXV
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday, "I won't get ahead of those negotiations (between Trump and Putin) but I can say we are on the 10th yard line of peace. We've never been closer to a peace deal than we are in this moment and the president is determined to get one done."
Much more will be known after the highly anticipated Trump-Putin phone call on Tuesday, upon which the two sides could move closer to the goal line.
