WASHINGTON, April 23. /TASS/. The US administration is angered by Vladimir Zelensky's attempts to conduct negotiations using megaphone diplomacy methods and considers it unacceptable, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
"Unfortunately, President Zelensky has been trying to litigate this peace negotiation in the press, and that's unacceptable to the president [US leader Donald Trump]. These should be closed-door negotiations," she said, commenting on Zelensky's remarks that Ukraine would not recognize Crimea as Russian.
Leavitt also pointed out that no one has asked Ukraine to recognize Crimea as Russian territory. "What he [Trump] is asking is for people to come to the negotiating table, recognizing that this has been a brutal war for far too long, and in order to make a good deal, both sides have to walk away a little bit unhappy," she concluded.
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump said Zelensky's comments that Ukraine would not recognize Crimea as Russian were bad for negotiations "in that Crimea was lost years ago under the auspices of President Barack Obama and is not even a point of discussion.".