Last week’s election of Donald Trump as president of the United States for a second time sent geopolitical shock waves as the international community waits to see what happens next for U.S. ties abroad, particularly as Russia’s war continues in Ukraine.
Trump and running mate-turned-Vice President-elect JD Vance rallied against the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine after Russia’s 2022 invasion, and from the campaign trail the former president said he would bring an end to the war before even entering office.
But Trump has yet to detail how he will do this.
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Vance made headlines this year after he suggested that the best way to end the war was for Ukraine to cede the land Russia has seized and for a demilitarized zone to be established, a proposal Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy flatly rejected.
A report Thursday by the Wall Street Journal suggested Vance’s controversial suggestions from the campaign trail are now being pushed by multiple advisers close to the president-elect.
Trump is not reported to have signed off on any specific steps yet. But according to the Journal, some advisers are encouraging him to push Kyiv to agree to terms that would freeze the frontlines by creating an 800-mile-long demilitarized zone and allow Russia to keep the land it has illegally seized, which amounts to roughly 20% of Ukraine.
It has also been suggested that Kyiv should agree not to pursue NATO membership for 20 years, a stipulation that critics of this plan argue kowtows to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A Washington Post report on Sunday also claimed Trump had spoken with Putin, where the president-elect told the Russian leader not to escalate the war. Trump's transition team would not confirm or deny the call.
Zelenskyy warned this year that appeasing Russia by forcing Ukraine to concede land along with its NATO ambitions would only exacerbate security concerns for Washington and its European allies.
"If this were a plan, then America is headed for global conflict," Zelenskyy said. "It would imply that whoever asserts control over territory – not the rightful owner but whoever came in a month or a week ago with a machine gun in hand – is the one who’s in charge."
Former CIA Moscow station chief Dan Hoffman told Fox News Digital that officials making these suggestions need "to stop treating Ukraine like they're the aggressor state."
"They don't need to be pushed to make a deal," he said. "The question is how you induce Putin to come to the table, not Ukraine."
"If you take things away from Ukraine … you're giving away a lot of whatever leverage you think you might have," Hoffman added.
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The security expert said the greatest leverage the U.S. has is its ability to give Ukraine sophisticated weaponry and to allow Kyiv to use the weaponry without restrictions on hitting targets inside Russia.
In an October interview, Kurt Volker, the U.S. special envoy to Ukraine during the Trump administration, told Germany's DW that he believes that upon entering the White House for a second time Trump will look to pressure Putin to end the war, further saying that Trump "would very likely go much further" in aiding Kyiv than the Biden administration.
"He would say to Ukrainians, ‘Here is a lend-lease package. You can borrow as much money as you need as long as you buy American equipment, and there are no restrictions on what you do with it,’" he was quoted as saying.
Volker did not respond to Fox News Digital’s questions on whether he still believes this will be Trump's approach.
But while some conservatives have argued that Trump may go further in aiding Ukraine to end the war by lifting restrictions on long-range weapons use, others remain skeptical given Trump’s remarks from the campaign trail in which he suggested he would stop Washington’s flow of aid.
Sources in the NATO alliance, Ukraine and Republicans on Capitol Hill have voiced concern to Fox News Digital over the uncertainty that remains surrounding Trump’s ambiguous stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine, though Trump’s history of attacking those who disagree with him meant sources were hesitant to go on the record when speaking about these concerns with Fox News Digital.
There remains a stark division among Republicans in Congress between those who are ardently opposed to arming Ukraine as security concerns over China mount and lawmakers who argue that backing Ukraine is vitally important to U.S. security as it weakens Russia, which is closely allied with Beijing.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul said, "I have no doubt President Trump will restore American strength and stability on the world stage, just as he did in his first term in office."
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"He lifted President Obama’s arms embargo on Ukraine, heavily sanctioned Russia – including Nord Stream 2 – enhanced the U.S. military presence in Europe, and pushed our NATO allies to invest more in their own defense," McCaul added. "Under President Trump’s leadership, I believe the Putin regime’s reign of terror will come to an end."
Several conservatives in the House and Senate, who have backed U.S. aid for Ukraine, did not respond to Fox News Digital’s questions over the mounting concern that the proposals being put in front of Trump call for anything but better arming Kyiv.
Additionally, several contacts Fox News Digital spoke with said that given Trump’s unclear stance on the U.S.’s role in the Russia-Ukraine war and the fact that he has not yet staffed his Cabinet, it is too soon to speculate what Washington’s policy will be in Ukraine.
Though one official with experience serving in the previous Trump administration pointed to steps Trump took while in office as his top indicator for how the next commander in chief may operate when it comes to Russia.
"There are three factors here to consider: What were Trump's policies last time, what has Trump said publicly, and what do we know of his general approach to major challenges like this?" Richard Goldberg, who served on the White House National Security Council during the Trump administration and who is now a senior adviser to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.
"Trump was no Russia appeaser in his first term," he added. "Now, he's said he wants the war to end, but that's not the same as saying it should end in a way Ukraine remains vulnerable and Putin feels emboldened to invade another country."
"He has largely remained vague on what an end state might look like, which is by design," he added. "Putin knows Trump has plenty of levers to pull, both in support of Ukraine and in pressure on Moscow."
"Trump's best move is to keep his cards close and make Putin feel uneasy ahead of any negotiations," Goldberg said.
