There is a hail of criticism from experts
Report: This is how Trump wants to end Russia’s war in Ukraine
April 7, 2024, 7:30 p.m
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Trump repeatedly boasts that if re-elected he could negotiate a deal between Moscow and Kiev. According to a media report, his plan is to pressure Ukraine to cede territory. The proposal has met with massive criticism from experts.
According to a media report, former US President Donald Trump outlined his plan for ending Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine in private conversations. As the Washington Post reported, citing people familiar with the matter, the Republican announced that he could end the war by pressuring Ukraine to give up some territory.
Accordingly, Trump’s proposal is to pressure Kiev to cede the Crimean peninsula and Donbass to Russia. An insider who claims to have discussed the issue directly with Trump told the newspaper that the 77-year-old said internally that both Russia and Ukraine “want to save face, they want a way out.” In addition, people in parts of Ukraine would agree to be part of Russia.
“A stupid idea”
According to the Washington Post, Trump’s plans began circulating last November during a meeting of the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington. According to several people present at the event, former Trump adviser Michael Anton described the contours of Trump’s peace plan as a cession of territory to entice Putin to ease his growing dependence on China.
James Carafano, a Heritage Foundation official who called the meeting, declined to comment on the private discussion. However, he told the Washington Post that he criticized the idea of decoupling Russia from China. “That’s a stupid idea,” he said. “Anything that could be given to Russia that it would truly value would jeopardize all other interests. The only way to solve the relationship between Russia and China is to make Russia a weaker partner.”
“This is a terrible deal”
Trump has bragged several times in the recent past that if he were re-elected, he could negotiate a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours. So far, the 77-year-old has refused to publicly explain how this will be achieved. Russia has already made it clear that it wants to annex Ukrainian land beyond Donbass and Crimea. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has repeatedly categorically ruled out ceding territory to Moscow.
Emma Ashford, a researcher at the Stimson Center think tank, told the paper that giving up territory for a ceasefire would put Ukraine in a worse position, with no guarantee that Russia would not resume hostilities after a while. “This is a terrible deal,” said Ashford.
“Thinks very much in terms of drawers”
Russia experts doubt that Trump’s peace efforts could be successful. Trump’s team “thinks very much in boxes, that this is just a Ukraine-Russia thing,” Trump’s former top Russia adviser, Fiona Hill, told the newspaper. “They see it as a territorial dispute and not as a dispute about the future of European security and the global order as a whole.” Ukraine and European allies would likely resist Trump’s efforts to reach an agreement with Moscow, Hill said.
“No amount of leverage that the United States has will force the Ukrainian leadership to adopt policies that would be domestic suicide,” Michael Kofman, Russia analyst at the Carnegie Endowment, told the paper. “And no amount of leverage that the United States has can force Ukraine to cede territory or make these kinds of concessions. This is a situation where if one is willing to shake hands, the other side will do so very quickly wants the rest of the arm.”
Trump’s campaign team did not want to answer questions from the Washington Post on the topic. “All speculation about President Trump’s plan comes from anonymous and uninformed sources who have no idea what is going on or what will happen,” said a spokeswoman for the former president. Anton told the newspaper by telephone that he had not spoken to Trump in 18 to 24 months. He also denied knowing anything about Trump’s plans for Ukraine. He did not respond to further questions.