Kremlin says 'significant part of Ukraine wants to be Russia'

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov riffed on President Donald Trump's suggestion that Ukrainians "may be Russians some day," as both Moscow and Kyiv maneuver for leverage in revived peace talks the White House hopes will end nearly three years of full-scale war.

Peskov told reporters at a Tuesday briefing that the situation in Ukraine "largely corresponds to President Trump's words."

President Vladimir Putin's spokesperson was referring to remarks made by Trump during an interview with Fox News which aired on Monday. The president told Bret Baier of his plans to secure U.S. access to $500 billion worth of rare earth metals located in Ukraine in exchange for continued American backing.

"They have tremendously valuable land in terms of rare earth, in terms of oil and gas and other things," Trump said. "I want to have our money secured because we're spending hundreds of billions of dollars and, you know, they may make a deal. They may not make a deal."

"They may be Russians some day or may not be Russians some day," Trump then added.

On Tuesday morning, Peskov said Trump's remarks indicated the situation on the ground in Ukraine -- often referred to by Putin and other Russian officials as the "new territorial realities" of Russian military occupation.

"The fact that a significant part of Ukraine wants to become Russia, and has already, is a fact," Peskov told reporters, referring to Moscow's claimed 2022 annexation of four Ukrainian regions, not all of which Russian forces actually control.

Asked if Trump's peace proposals had a chance of success, Peskov replied, "Any phenomenon can happen with a 50% probability -- either yes or no."

Oleksandr Merezhko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament and the chair of the body's foreign affairs committee, told ABC News of Trump's comments, "It will never happen."

"We saw what life under Russia might look like for Ukrainians in Bucha and Irpin," Merezhko added, referring to the Kyiv suburbs briefly occupied by Russian forces in 2022 and where evidence of executions, torture and other abuses against civilians were uncovered after Moscow's retreat.