A senior adviser to President Donald Trump said the next US administration’s priority for Ukraine will be achieving peace, not helping Russia retake territory captured in nearly three years of war. .
In an interview with the BBC that aired on Saturday, Brian Lanza, who has been a political advisor to President Trump since the 2016 presidential election, began detailing the strong signals the current president-elect was sending to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Ta. , on the campaign trail.
Lanza said, “If Mr. Zelensky says only to stop this fighting, then only peace will come. If Crimea is returned, President Zelensky will have news. Crimea is gone.”
A spokesperson for President Trump’s presidential transition effort said late Saturday that Lanza was not speaking on behalf of the president-elect.
President Trump’s transition efforts are currently scrutinizing personnel and drafting policies that Trump may adopt during his second term.
“Brian Lanza was a campaign contractor. He does not work for President Trump or speak on his behalf,” the spokesperson said on condition of anonymity.
During his campaign, Trump said he would find a solution to end the war “within a day,” but he did not explain how.
Russia is ready to listen to Donald Trump’s proposals to end the war, officials said on Saturday. According to the Associated Press, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia and the United States were “exchanging signals” through “closed channels” regarding Ukraine. He did not specify whether the communication was to the current administration or members of President Trump and the incoming administration.
Ryabkov said in an interview with Russian state news on Saturday that President Trump’s proposal was “ideas on how to move forward in the field of reconciliation, not in the field of further provoking the Kiev regime with all kinds of aid.” He said it depends on what happens. Agency Interfax.
In Kiev, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibikha told reporters that Ukraine was ready to cooperate with the Trump administration.
The comments came as Russia marched through the battlefields of eastern Ukraine at its fastest rate since the invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, simultaneously attacking cities including the capital Kiev with ammunition carried by drones. . In 2022, Russia will further step up its offensive against Crimea, a peninsula in southeastern Ukraine jutting into the Black Sea that it began in 2014 and now controls.
Lanza also said, “And if your priority is to take back Crimea and to have American soldiers fight to take back Crimea, then you act on your own.”
Read more of the Guardian’s 2024 US election coverage
President Zelenskiy came to the United Nations General Assembly and White House in New York in September to present a desperate “victory plan” that included winning permission to use U.S. long-range weapons to fire deep into Russia. ‘ was promoted. But he was rejected as the US and its NATO allies are wary of the conflict escalating into war between Russia and the West, as it has been since 2022.
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Lanza added: “What we want to say to Ukraine is: What do you see?” What do you think is a realistic vision for peace? It’s not a vision of victory, it’s a vision of peace. And start an honest conversation. ”
President Trump’s boast about ending the war in Ukraine quickly is nothing more than withdrawing his support, handing victory to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and further emboldening Putin, effectively forcing him to give up on Ukraine. There are concerns that this may be the case.
Following President Trump’s recent election victory, President Zelensky congratulated him by saying, “I recall a wonderful meeting with President Trump in September, when we discussed the strategic relationship between Ukraine and the United States.” We discussed in detail the partnership, the plan for victory, and how to stop Russian aggression against Ukraine. ”
Axios reported on Wednesday that President Trump and President Zelenskiy spoke by phone. The call, which President Zelenskiy described as “amazing,” also included a surprise appearance from Trump’s staunch ally Elon Musk, who initially agreed to provide Starlink satellites to Ukraine for free in 2022. Ta. In 2023, Musk’s SpaceX blocked satellites from controlling Ukrainian surveillance drones, angering Ukrainian officials.
Mr. Trump repeatedly attacked Mr. Zelensky on the campaign trail, accusing him of having uttered “terrible abuse against me, your favorite president.” Trump added: “We will continue to give billions of dollars to Zelensky, the man who rejects the deal.”
In September, Zelensky gave an interview to The New Yorker in which he called J.D. Vance “too radical” and questioned President Trump’s ability to end the war.
A few weeks later, President Trump called Zelensky “one of the greatest salesmen I’ve ever met,” saying on a conservative podcast: Has anyone else in history ever earned this much money? There never was. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to help him. Because I feel so sorry for those people. But he should never have started the war. That war is a loser. ”
Trump was impeached in 2019 during his first term for allegedly trying to rob Zelenskiy over arms supplies. He was acquitted by the US Senate.
