Washington:
US President-elect Donald Trump’s chief of national security advisers on Sunday called for an end to the escalating war between Ukraine and Russia and for the two countries to come to the negotiating table.
“We need to come to a responsible end. We need to restore deterrence, not react,” said Mike Walz, who Trump nominated for the influential position of national security adviser. We need to restore peace and get ahead of this escalation ladder.” (NSA).
Recently, Washington allowed Kiev to use U.S.-supplied missiles to attack targets inside Russian territory and agreed to supply Kiev with land mines, allowing Russia to use experimental medium-range ballistic missiles. He urged them to respond with missiles.
Walz, a well-known diplomatic hawk and former U.S. special forces member, has criticized Russia but, like Trump, has opposed expanding aid to Ukraine.
“President Trump has been very clear about the need to end this conflict,” he told Fox News on Sunday.
“We need to discuss who’s going to be at the table, whether it’s a deal or a truce, how we can get both sides to the table, and what the framework for that deal is.”
Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and the United States and others supported Kiev in the fight to protect territory in the country’s east.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has previously ruled out ceding any territory to Russia, and on Tuesday told Fox News that Ukraine would lose the war if Washington withdrew the funds.
President Joe Biden’s administration has promised a smooth transition to Trump, who has promised major changes in both foreign and domestic policy.
Walz said he met with Biden’s NSA Jake Sullivan on Sunday and warned foreign adversaries against thinking they would gain an advantage in the months leading up to Trump’s inauguration in January.
“To our adversaries who think this is their chance to pit one administration against the other. They are wrong…We are working closely together.”
Walz also praised Israel’s “strength and grit” in its offensive against Hamas, which has killed at least 44,211 people, mostly civilians, in the Gaza Strip, according to local authorities.
The war was sparked by an attack on Israel by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023. The cross-border attack killed 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli statistics compiled by AFP.
“Now is the time to not just pause for a future October 7th, but to work out some kind of deal that will bring real stability to the Middle East,” Walz said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
