Former President Donald Trump is currently weighing a plan, if reelected in November, to cut off aid to Kyiv unless it agrees to negotiate with Moscow on ending the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Neither Kyiv nor Moscow have been able to agree to terms to end the war, which started over two years ago and has dragged Europe and the U.S. into a broader conflict. Two advisers gave Trump a plan that would halt U.S. weapons aid to Ukraine unless it is willing to enter peace talks with Russia, and to conversely to flood aid to Kyiv if Moscow isn’t willing to talk, one of the advisers told Reuters in an interview Tuesday. (RELATED: Biden Publicly Apologizes To Zelenskyy, Tells Him It’s Republicans Fault For Ukraine Aid Troubles)
“I’m not claiming he agreed with it or agreed with every word of it, but we were pleased to get the feedback we did,” Fred Fleitz, an adviser who served in Trump’s National Security Council, told Reuters, noting that the former president viewed the plan favorably.
US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Keith Kellogg (R) after announcing him as chief of staff to national security adviser US Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on February 20, 2017. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)
“We tell the Ukrainians, ‘You’ve got to come to the table, and if you don’t come to the table, support from the United States will dry up,'” retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, the second adviser, told Reuters. “And you tell Putin, ‘He’s got to come to the table and if you don’t come to the table, then we’ll give Ukrainians everything they need to kill you in the field.'”
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung told Reuters that only campaign statements should be considered official.
The plan outlines that a possible ceasefire deal would be set along the battle lines of the war during peace talks, according to Reuters. Fleitz told Reuters that Ukraine wouldn’t need to give up any more territory than it has already lost, but noted that he believed it was unlikely Ukrainian forces could gain those territories back.
“Our concern is that this has become a war of attrition that’s going to kill a whole generation of young men,” he said.
TOPSHOT – US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speak during a meeting in New York on September 25, 2019, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters that any possible ceasefire deal proposed by Trump would need to take into account the real state of affairs on the ground, noting that the Kremlin remained open to talks. Russian President Vladimir Putin laid out his vision for a ceasefire earlier in June, but made dramatic demands for a deal, including the concession of expansive swaths of Ukrainian territory and the demilitarization of Ukrainian forces.
The U.S. has thus far provided Ukraine with over $175 billion in aid since the country’s war against Russia began in 2022, $70 billion of which is strictly military aid. Still, Ukraine has struggled to maintain defensive positions against Russian forces amid a shortage of both manpower and ammunition.
Trump has said on multiple occasions that he could end the war in “24 hours.”
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
