Trump adviser says priority in Ukraine is peace

10/11/2024 7:00

        A senior aide to U.S. President-elect
        Donald Trump said in an interview broadcast on Saturday that the
        new administration's priority in Ukraine would be establishing
        peace and not restoring lost territory, including Crimea.
        
        Bryan Lanza, a long-time Republican party strategist, told
        the BBC that Trump's administration would be asking Ukrainian
        President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a "realistic vision for
        peace."
        
        "And if President Zelenskiy comes to the table and says,
        well we can only have peace if we have Crimea, he shows to us
        that he's not serious. Crimea is gone," he said. "And if that is
        your priority of getting Crimea back and having American
        soldiers fight to get Crimea back, you're on your own."
        
        He said the priority was "peace and to stop the killing."
        
        "What we're going to say to Ukraine is, you know what you
        see? What do you see as a realistic vision for peace? It's not a
        vision for winning, but it's a vision for peace. And let's start
        having the honest conversation, he said.
        
        Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula in 2014 after an
        uprising that prompted Ukraine's Russia-friendly president to
        flee. More than 2 1/2 years after launching its full-fledged
        invasion, Russian forces hold just under 20% of its territory.
        
        Zelenskiy has repeatedly said peace cannot be established
        until all Russian forces are expelled and all territory captured
        by Moscow, including Crimea, is returned. His "victory plan"
        presented last month maintains that provision as well as an
        invitation for Ukraine to join NATO, long denounced by Russia.
        
        Ukraine has sought modern weapons from the United States as
        well as authorisation to use them on Russian targets but it has
        never called for U.S. forces to be deployed on its territory.
        
        Russian troops failed in their initial advance on the
        Ukrainian capital Kyiv but in recent months have been capturing
        a string of villages on the eastern front.
        
        Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin said in June that conditions
        for peace talks included Ukraine abandoning the four regions
        Moscow has annexed, though it does not have full control over
        them.
        
        During the election campaign, Trump said he would find a
        solution to end the war "within a day," but did not explain how
        he would do so.
        
        Zelenskiy and Trump spoke by telephone this week after the
        U.S. election in a conversation joined by billionaire Trump
        supporter Elon Musk, according to media reports.