Trump cabinet to push for ‘freezing’ Ukraine conflict – WSJ

The president-elect’s team plans to force Kiev to suspend its NATO aspirations, sources have told the outlet

Donald Trump’s team is considering several potential plans to end the Ukraine conflict, which would require Kiev to drop its plans to join NATO in the foreseeable future and freeze hostilities along the current front line, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing sources.

Trump, who defeated his Democratic rival Kamala Harris in the presidential election, has repeatedly vowed to end hostilities between Moscow and Kiev within 24 hours, even before being sworn into office.

According to officials and aides familiar with the situation, the Trump team does not yet have a detailed plan, with different factions “set to compete to influence the Republican’s foreign policy.” Such “traditionally minded” Trump allies as Mike Pompeo, who served as secretary of state and CIA director during the president-elect’s first term, are reportedly pushing for a deal that “doesn’t appear to give a major win to Moscow.”

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Other figures, such as Richard Grenell, who could become Trump’s national security adviser, may advocate for ending the conflict as soon as possible, even if Kiev has to make significant concessions, the article said.

However, according to the WSJ, peace proposals “uniformly recommend freezing the war in place… and forcing Ukraine to temporarily suspend its quest to join” NATO. Three unnamed officials inside Trump’s transition office told the paper that one idea is to have Ukraine pledge not to join NATO “for at least 20 years,” while in exchange, the US would provide Kiev with ample weapons deliveries to keep Russia at bay.

The reported plan would also establish a demilitarized zone along the current front line, with one Trump adviser ruling out the possibility that peace there would be maintained by American troops or US-funded international organizations such as the UN. Under this proposal, the US would seek to delegate this task to its European allies, according to the WSJ.

“We can do training and other support but the barrel of the gun is going to be European,” the paper’s source said. “We are not sending American men and women to uphold peace in Ukraine. And we are not paying for it. Get the Poles, Germans, British and French to do it.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that the US could help resolve the Ukraine conflict since it is the one fueling it, insisting that Moscow is “open to contacts and dialogue.” Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has ruled out “bargaining” over the country’s sovereignty or “trading” the territories Kiev claims as its own.