Trump adviser says Ukraine focus must be peace not retaking territory
Top advisers to President-elect Donald Trump say the incoming administration will focus on bringing peace to Ukraine rather than helping the country retake territory occupied by Russia.
The Trump administration will ask Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for his version of a “realistic peace vision,” Republican strategist Bryan Lanza told the BBC.
“If President Zelensky comes to the negotiating table and says that we can only have peace if we have Crimea, then he will show us that he is not serious,” he said. “Crimea has disappeared. ”
Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Eight years later, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and occupied the country’s eastern territories.
The president-elect has consistently said his top priority is to end the war and stop the drain on U.S. military aid resources for Ukraine.
Lanza, who has been a political adviser to Trump since he launched his campaign in 2016, did not mention eastern Ukraine but said retaking Crimea from Russia was unrealistic and “not a goal of the United States.” .
“When Zelensky said we will only stop this fighting and there will be peace only with the return of Crimea, we have sent a message to President Zelensky: Crimea is gone,” he told Britain Broadcaster’s World Service weekend programme.
“If that’s your priority to retake Crimea and have American soldiers fight to retake Crimea, then you’re on your own.”
The United States has never sent U.S. troops to fight in Ukraine, and Kiev has never asked U.S. troops to fight on its behalf. Ukraine has only requested military assistance from the United States to arm its own soldiers.
Lanza said he has great respect for the Ukrainian people, saying they have the hearts of lions. But he said the U.S.’s top priority was “peace and stopping the killing.”
“What we are saying to Ukraine is, do you know what you saw? What do you think is a realistic vision of peace. It’s not a vision of victory, it’s a vision of peace. Let’s start having an honest conversation,” he said.
Trump had a call with Zelensky after his election that also included billionaire Elon Musk.
A source in the Ukrainian president’s office told the BBC that the “good long conversation” between Zelensky and Trump lasted “about half an hour.”
“It wasn’t really a conversation about very substantive things, but overall it was very warm and pleasant.”
Trump’s Democratic opponents accuse him of cozying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin and say his approach to the war amounts to a surrender to Ukraine and would endanger all of Europe.
Last month, Zelensky presented a “victory plan” to Ukraine’s parliament that included Refuse to give up Ukrainian territory and sovereignty.
Trump repeatedly said during the campaign that he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine “in one day,” but never revealed further details.
A document written in May by two of his former national security chiefs said the United States should continue to provide arms but conditional support on Kyiv’s peace talks with Russia.
The newspaper said Ukraine should not give up hope of regaining all territory from Russian occupation, but should negotiate on the basis of current fronts.
Earlier this week, Putin congratulates Trump Trump’s comments about his election victory that he could help end the war in Ukraine were “at least worthy of attention.”
Lanza also criticized the Biden-Harris administration and European countries’ support for Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
“The reality is that European countries and President Biden have failed from the beginning to give Ukraine the capabilities and weapons to win this war, and have failed to lift restrictions that would have prevented Ukraine from winning,” he said.
Earlier this year, the U.S. House of Representatives approved $61bn (£49bn) military aid package Ukraine helps fight Russian invasion.
Data from Germany’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy shows that the United States has been Ukraine’s largest arms supplier, delivering or committing weapons and equipment worth $55.5 billion (£41.5 billion) from February 2022 to the end of June 2024. organize.
