In the CNN debate on Thursday (27) night against the President of the United States, Democrat Joe Biden, the Republican candidate for the White House, Donald Trump, made a surprising promise: he said he will reach an agreement to end the war in Ukraine even before taking office in January, if elected in November.
Trump, as on other occasions, stated that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, would not have happened if he were the American president. At the same time, however, he did not detail how he intends to end the conflict.
In April, the American newspaper Washington Post reported that Trump intended to pressure Ukraine to cede Crimea and the Donbass region to Russia, both occupied (the first completely, the second partially) by dictator Vladimir Putin’s troops.
The newspaper cited as sources people who had discussed the matter with Trump or his advisers and who spoke on condition of anonymity.
However, an aide to the Republican denied to The New York Post that he was considering such a plan.
In Thursday’s debate, Trump said Putin’s terms for peace (more Ukrainian territory beyond the occupied territory and Kiev’s withdrawal from NATO membership) were “not acceptable.”
This week, Reuters published a report pointing out that another plan was presented to Trump and that the Republican candidate had responded favorably.
In interviews with the agency, retired lieutenant general Keith Kellogg and Fred Fleitz, who were chiefs of staff at the National Security Council during the Trump administration (2017-2021), said that the proposal has three main axes.
The first would be to tell Ukraine that it will only receive more military aid from the United States if it begins peace talks.
The second would be to warn Russia that any refusal to negotiate would be met with more shipments of American weapons to the Ukrainians.
The third axis would be a ceasefire during the peace negotiations based on the battle lines that are currently prevailing in the conflict.
Fleitz said that Trump liked the proposal, but officially, both the adviser and the Republican’s campaign refused to confirm that this should be Trump’s plan if elected.
“I’m not saying he agreed or agreed with every word, but we were pleased to receive the feedback we received,” he said.
Putin says he is open to peace negotiations, although he imposed conditions that Trump considered unacceptable during the debate. Ukraine, on the other hand, has made starting talks conditional on the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country.
Trump, like many colleagues in the Republican Party, has criticized the sending of weapons to Kiev without any prospect of peace.
In a speech in South Carolina in February, criticizing the Democrats’ plan to “give another $60 billion” to Ukraine, which was eventually approved by the U.S. Congress in April, he said: “Do it this way. Lend the money. If they [ucranianos] get it, they pay us back. If they can’t do it, they won’t have to pay us back.”
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