Trump has three plans for Ukraine – Reuters
Donald Trump’s advisers have presented him with three plans for resolving the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Reuters has reported, citing several sources close to the US president-elect.
Despite certain differences, all of the proposals include Kiev ceding territory to Moscow and giving up on its aspiration to join NATO, the agency said in an article on Wednesday.
A former Trump national security official, involved in the ongoing government transition in the US, has told Reuters that one of the plans came from the president-elect’s incoming Russia-Ukraine envoy, retired Army Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg.
The other two were authored by Vice President-elect J.D. Vance and Trump’s former acting intelligence chief, Richard Grenell, respectively, according to the official.
Trump’s advisers reportedly intend to try to pressure the two countries into negotiations by using a “carrots and sticks” strategy, Reuters said. It would see Washington halting military aid to Kiev if Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky refuses to negotiate, and more arms deliveries if Russian President Vladimir Putin expresses an unwillingness to engage in diplomacy, the outlet explained.
As of last week, Trump had yet to convene a central working group to flesh out a unified peace plan, four advisers told the agency on condition of anonymity.
The deal between Moscow and Kiev will likely depend on direct personal engagement between Trump, Putin, and Zelensky, the advisers stressed.
During his presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly claimed that he would end the fighting between Moscow and Kiev within 24 hours if he is reelected, but never explained how exactly he was going to achieve this.
Zelensky, who previously vigorously rejected the possibility of making any concessions to Moscow, has recently softened his stance on the issue. He told Kyodo News on Monday that Ukraine “could even cede some territories, which we cannot return today” to Russia and try getting them back through diplomatic means later.
The Ukrainian leader also insisted that guaranteed NATO membership for Kiev must be a condition for signing a truce, as it will put Ukraine in “a strong position” in the event that a new conflict breaks out with Russia.
Last week, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated Moscow’s readiness to look for a diplomatic solution. For it to be achieved, the “root causes” of the conflict must be eliminated, including NATO’s eastward expansion and “systematic” violations of the rights of Russian speakers by the Kiev government, he said.
