Trump's Alleged Odesa Port Transfer to Russia Misinterpreted, Says Expert

The information published by The New York Times that US President Donald Trump is allegedly considering the possibility of transferring the port of Odesa to the Russian Federation was misinterpreted.

This opinion was expressed to TSN by Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council.

In particular, he emphasized that the NYT article does not say at all that Donald Trump may agree to transfer the port of Odesa to Russian control, but only that some officials are afraid of this.

"No one can transfer any port to Russia. Moreover, the article says that unnamed "Ukrainian officials" are worried that during the US-Russian dialogue, Putin's territorial claims, possibly with the port of Odesa, may be considered. Again, some unknown sources, insights, hype. As I said, there is a lot of this stuff and there will be a lot more. But such stuff mostly has nothing to do with reality," he emphasized.

The NYT article in particular referred to the talks between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin scheduled for March 18.

"U.S. President Donald Trump and Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin will discuss what Ukraine might lose after the war ends. In particular, according to media sources, the American leader may consider options for the port of Odesa that could satisfy the Russian leader," the newspaper writes.

However, the American newspaper noted that Trump was careful to comment on which parts of Ukrainian territory he discussed.

"It is not known whether he was trying to limit Mr. Putin's ambitions. The Trump administration has already made it clear that it expects to leave Russia in control of the areas already ruled by its troops, about 20 percent of Ukraine's territory," the NYT article said.

Кирило Бойко