Trump ally: Ukraine's focus on 'achieving peace and stopping the killing' | US elections 2024

A senior adviser to Donald Trump said the new U.S. administration's priority for Ukraine will be to achieve peace rather than helping it regain territory captured by Russia during nearly three years of war.

In an interview with the BBC broadcast on Saturday, Bryan Lanza, who has been a political adviser since Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, began to elaborate on the strong signals the now president-elect had sent to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the campaign trail.

Lanza said: “If Zelensky says that we will only stop these fighting, there will only be peace once Crimea is returned, then we have news for President Zelensky: Crimea is gone.”

The comments came as Russia advanced across the eastern Ukrainian battlefield at its fastest pace since invading its neighbor in February 2022, while also attacking cities such as the capital Kiev with drone-borne munitions. In 2022, Russia expanded its attack, launched in 2014, on Ukraine's southeastern Crimean peninsula, which juts into the Black Sea, and is now in control there.

Lanza added: “And if that's your priority, to take back Crimea and have American soldiers fight to take back Crimea, then you're on your own.”

He went on to say that the U.S. priority in Ukraine is to “establish peace and stop the killing.”

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Zelensky came to the United Nations General Assembly in New York and the White House in September and announced what appeared to be a final “victory plan” that involved gaining permission to use U.S. long-range weapons to fire deep into Russia. But it was rejected as the US and its NATO allies fear, as they have since 2022, that the conflict could escalate into a war between Russia and the West.

Lanza added: “What we will say to Ukraine is, you know, what do you see?” What do you think is a realistic vision for peace? It is not a vision for victory, but it is a vision for peace. And let’s start having an honest conversation.”

There are fears that Trump's boast that he would end the war in Ukraine very quickly amounts to essentially nothing other than forcing Ukraine to give up by withdrawing support, handing victory to Russian President Vladimir Putin and him to encourage even more.

After Trump's recent election victory, Zelensky congratulated him and said: “I remember our great meeting with President Trump in September, when we discussed in detail the strategic partnership between Ukraine and the United States, the victory plan and ways to end Russian aggression.” against Ukraine.”

On Wednesday, Axios reported that Trump and Zelensky had spoken on the phone. The call, which Zelenskyy described as “excellent,” also included a surprise appearance from staunch Trump ally Elon Musk, who initially provided Starlink satellites to Ukraine for free in 2022. In 2023, Musk's SpaceX prevented the satellite from controlling Ukrainian surveillance drones, sparking a spark of outrage among Ukrainian officials.

During the election campaign, Trump repeatedly attacked Zelensky and accused him of making “malicious slanders against your favorite president, me.” Trump added: “We continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal: Zelensky.”

In September, Zelensky gave an interview to the New Yorker in which he expressed doubts about Trump's ability to end the war and called JD Vance “too radical.”

A few weeks later, Trump called Zelensky “one of the greatest salesmen I've ever met” and said on a conservative podcast: “Every time he comes in, we give him $100 billion.” Who else in history has that get a lot of money? This has never happened before. And that doesn't mean I don't want to help him, because I feel very sorry for these people. But he should never have allowed this war. This war is a loser.”

Trump was impeached in 2019 during his first term for essentially trying to blackmail Zelensky over arms sales. He was acquitted by the US Senate.