Trump surprises with the peace plan regarding Ukraine — the key points
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Donald Trump presents his plan for ending the war, which includes allowing Ukraine to lift the arms embargo and facilitating its accession to NATO. In addition, if the former president wins the US elections for a second time, he will reportedly never agree to Putin's stated goals of "denazification and demilitarization" of Ukraine.
This was stated by Kurt Volker, the US special envoy to Kyiv under Donald Trump's presidency, in an interview with Rzeczpospolita.
How Trump wants to end the war in Ukraine
Kurt Volker said that Donald Trump believes it is impossible to negotiate with the Kremlin, so when he returns to the White House, he is ready to call Putin and offer him a choice — either he agrees to peace, or the United States will provide Ukraine with so many weapons that the world has never seen before.
Trump's associate said that during his presidency, he pursued a very tough policy, maintaining contacts not only with Putin, but also with Kim Jong-un and Xi Jinping. Volker also recalled how the former president lifted the ban on arms supplies to Ukraine, wanted to shut down Nord Stream 2, and expelled Russians from the San Francisco consulate, where espionage activities were exposed.
Freezing the war in Ukraine
The journalist asked Trump's representative how Ukraine should return the occupied territories, according to the presidential candidate. He said the current line there should be frozen. In return, Ukraine will receive all security guarantees, all weapons and no restrictions on their use, as well as rapid accession to NATO and the EU. However, there is a monetary nuance.
"But with the caveat that the Europeans would have to finance 80 percent of the deal. Today, America pays for at least half of the arms deliveries to Ukraine," Kurt Volker said.
Nevertheless, Trump's representative claimed that he understood Ukraine's disagreement with such conditions and even suggested that Volodymyr Zelensky could be removed if he "signed something like that".
Ukraine in NATO but without the Alliance's direct support?
According to Kurt Volker, Trump could facilitate Ukraine's accession to NATO and reformulate some doctrines to allow the country to defend itself with its own resources, but without direct intervention from the alliance.
"It is hard to imagine, for example, that the Spanish will come to the aid of Kharkiv. I do not share these fears. Despite enlargement, NATO has taken a tougher stance on Russia. All members of the alliance consider Article 5 sacred. We can also find a formula that will make the Alliance's guarantees apply only to the land that is actually under Ukrainian control. This was the case with West Germany. NATO will not launch an offensive to liberate Donbass or Crimea from Russian occupation," he said.
What Trump is going to do with Putin
Kurt Volker added that Putin could not agree or disagree with certain changes in Western policy toward Ukraine. He said that the "red lines" he had previously announced have long been violated and nothing has happened. We are talking about Finland's accession to NATO and the delivery of Abrams and F-16 aircraft to Ukraine.
Trump also considers the use of nuclear weapons unrealistic. Allegedly, Russia is in a difficult situation and this will only make things worse.
"If Russia reaches for strategic nuclear weapons, it (Russia — ed.) will cease to exist. America will never tolerate that. As for tactical nuclear weapons, according to Russian military doctrine, they can only be used if the Russian state is threatened. But this is not the case, Russia is conquering other people's lands. The use of such weapons would not speed up these conquests. There is a possibility that the army would not carry out the president's order. Putin cannot take this risk. He is in a much worse position than is generally believed," the official said.
At the same time, Trump's team does not believe that Putin will agree to its plan 100%. However, they are pinning their hopes on the Russian dictator's entourage, which they say can convince him that it is not wise to continue the war.
"Putin will always think that he can outwit the West and Ukraine. He will rebuild the Russian Empire. He will not accept anything else. We need to build a new reality that he will have to accept. It will warn him that if he continues the war, Russia will be swallowed up by China, and America will be powerless to stop it," Kurt Volker added.
As a reminder, Trump's peace plans have changed many times. In April, anonymous sources reported that Trump was considering creating his own peace plan for Ukraine, that would push Kyiv to hand over occupied Crimea and Donbass to Russian control.
Subsequently, Trump's plan became an ultimatum — a representative of the former president said that Ukraine would be forced to sit down at the negotiating table, otherwise the provision of aid would be cut off.
Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky has already presented his peace plan to the United States. The State Department did not give any details, but evaluated it positively.
