Yermak meets with Trump team to discuss positions on peace talks – WSJ
5 December 2024 11:18
The Office of the President of Ukraine has begun negotiations with the team of future US President Donald Trump to reduce differences in approaches to a peaceful settlement of the war with Russia. The first meeting between the two teams took place yesterday. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
According to the newspaper’s sources, on Wednesday, the head of the Presidential Administration, Andriy Yermak, met in the United States with Keith Kellogg, whom Trump will appoint as a special representative for Russia and Ukraine, and Mike Volz, the future national security adviser. Future Vice President J.D. Vance also joined the discussion.
Positions on peace
There is little information about the course of this conversation. According to the publication, Trump’s advisors are proposing a peace plan that recognizes Russia’s occupation of about 20% of Ukrainian territories and does not provide for Ukraine’s accession to NATO, despite Zelenskyy’s insistence that membership in the Alliance is important as a security guarantee.
Representing Ukraine, Yermak emphasized the need for a just and lasting peace. Kyiv emphasizes that proposals that legalize the occupation of Ukrainian territories are unacceptable.
“It must be a sustainable peace… An unstable, temporary peace is not in the interests of either the United States or Ukraine,”
– said the source, who is familiar with the Ukrainian side’s position.
Lucian Kim, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, noted that Ukraine takes a “maximalist position” in the negotiations, but seeks to show itself as a constructive partner.
“The incoming Trump administration has given people in Kyiv hope for a breakthrough. What it will look like is a question. But it is clear that the status quo will end,”
– Kim commented.
These talks are the first attempts to define a new framework for resolving the war, but the difference in the parties’ positions remains significant.
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Evolution of the Trump Plan for Ukraine
During the election campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly said that he would stop the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office. Sometimes he even suggested that this could happen within 24 after his election. That time has already passed.
During the election, the media spread the so-called “Trump Plan”. The idea was that the United States would use its influence to stop the war and maintain the status quo. To do this, Trump would force Putin and Zelenskyy to sit down at the negotiating table. If Putin does not agree to negotiate, the United States will give Ukraine all the weapons it needs to win on the battlefield. If Zelenskyy refuses to negotiate, the United States will completely stop helping Ukraine.
This plan, in its various variations, stipulates that Russia retains the territories it temporarily occupies and that Ukraine does not join NATO.
However, later Trump seemed to “forget” about this plan. In particular, he voiced scenarios in which he would force Russia to capitulate due to the decline in world oil prices.
After Trump was elected President of the United States, one of his advisors, Brian Lanza, said that Ukraine should forget about Crimea. The president-elect’s entourage, however, was quick to deny this statement and said that Lanza could not speak for Trump.
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