Kiev has no capacity to reclaim the regions that have become part of Russia since 2014, according to the French president French President Emmanuel Macron gestures to the media as he waits to welcome new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the Elysee Palace on May 7, 2025 in Paris. © Tom Nicholson / Getty Images The Ukrainians are well aware that they do not have the means to retake all the territory they claim that is held by Russia, French President Emmanuel Macron has said. Ukraine has rejected Russia’s demand that it renounce its claim to the lost territories. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky said in April, however, that Kiev to retake Crimea by force. Macron told TF1 on Tuesday. the French president added. Read more Crimea, which is populated predominantly by ethnic Russians, voted to secede from Ukraine and join Russia shortly after the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev. The largely Russian-speaking Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, along with the regions of Kherson and Zaporozhye, did the same after holding referendums in September 2022. US President Donald Trump told Time magazine last month that “Crimea will stay with Russia,” claiming that Zelensky understood this as well. Trump’s peace plan reportedly envisions freezing the conflict along the current front line and recognizing Russian sovereignty over the peninsula. The president has repeatedly stressed that he wants to end the bloodshed as soon as possible. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has said that Moscow seeks to discuss a “sustainable settlement” with Kiev during potential talks in Istanbul on May 15.
