A review of the international press over the past two weeks shows that the Ukrainian leadership is holding high-level talks with the new Trump administration on a possible settlement of the war with russia before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. In addition, the idea of a potential deployment of European troops to Ukraine after the ceasefire is an important topic that has been raised in the media.
In the Politico article, the author recalls Trump's promise: "Together, we will secure peace through strength and make the world safe again!" History teaches us that russia is deterred by strength and encouraged by weakness. It feeds on the fear and indecision of its opponent. Moscow bears full responsibility for unleashing a catastrophic war, but it was a series of political mistakes by the West that allowed its ambitions to spiral out of control.
The author notes that the aggressor must be defeated not only for the sake of Ukraine's survival, but also to put an end to russia's imperial ambitions. As Zelenskyy's plan clearly states, and as we should have understood by now, the duty of the free world is not only to stop the bloodshed, but also to ensure a just and lasting peace. Any other action is an open invitation to more war.
In an editorial from The Economist, the authors argue that capitulation to putin would be a public defeat for America and Trump. It would spill over into Asia, where America's enemies might become more aggressive and its friends might lose confidence in their ally and instead appease China. And Mr Trump would undoubtedly like to avoid the humiliation of being known as the man who lost Ukraine by losing negotiations with putin. It would be in his own interest to strike a deal that guarantees Ukraine's security for at least four years of his presidential term. During this time, Ukraine can achieve a lot.
The Economist argues that the best way to protect Ukraine would be to join NATO. NATO membership could prevent putin from achieving his ultimate goal of destabilising and dominating Europe. It would also bring Europe's most innovative and battle-hardened military and defence industry into the Alliance.
President Zelenskyy, for his part, has recently made it clear that Ukraine could agree to a ceasefire if it is allowed to join NATO. This was reported in The Wall Street Journal.
An important step towards a ceasefire was also the news of talks between Emmanuel Macron and Donald Tusk on the deployment of a post-war peacekeeping force to Ukraine. Politico notes that the two countries are discussing a potential 40,000-strong peacekeeping mission, which would include troops from other countries.
Undoubtedly, all further steps will require strategic diplomacy and a united front from the West to ensure that Ukraine's sovereignty is preserved and a secure future is guaranteed.
Ukrainian officials are holding high-level talks with the incoming Trump administration, seeking to narrow wide differences on achieving a settlement of Kyiv’s war with Russia even before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
A top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Wednesday with Keith Kellogg, Trump’s choice as special envoy for Russia and Ukraine, and Mike Waltz, the incoming national-security adviser, according to a Trump transition official and several people familiar with the discussions.
The head of the U.K.’s Secret Intelligence Service urged the U.S. not to allow Russia to succeed in Ukraine, warning that it would embolden other authoritarian states across the globe and jeopardize trans-Atlantic security.
“If Putin is allowed to succeed in reducing Ukraine to a vassal state, he will not stop there,” said Richard Moore, who heads the U.K. foreign intelligence service MI6. “The cost of supporting Ukraine is well known, but the cost of not doing so would be indefinitely higher.”
FOR TWO years the war in Ukraine has been fought metre by blood-soaked metre. Suddenly, dramatic change is at hand. One reason is that Russia’s grinding advance has exposed grave weaknesses in manpower and morale that could eventually lead to a collapse in Ukraine’s lines. More urgent, Donald Trump has made clear that, as president, he will be impatient for the shooting to stop.
Mr Trump has leverage over Russia if he wants to use it. Because he is unpredictable, he could threaten to go all-in with Ukraine by sending it more and deadlier weapons, and Mr Putin would have to take him seriously. In addition, the Russian economy is hurting, the rouble is tumbling and Russians are tired of fighting. Although Mr Putin could sustain the war for another year or more, he might also benefit from a pause. As Mike Waltz, Mr Trump’s incoming national security adviser, has suggested, America can therefore also threaten to use sanctions to make that pain worse.
The United States announced Tuesday, December 10, that it has disbursed a $20 billion loan for Ukraine backed by the interest earned on frozen Russian assets, as part of a $50 billion G7 support package.
The money forms a significant chunk of the $50 billion in new loans finalized by Group of Seven advanced economies in October, aimed at helping Kyiv prop up the country as it struggles to fight back against Moscow's ongoing invasion. It also comes as President Joe Biden's administration comes to an end and the future of Washington's support for Kyiv is in doubt.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Tuesday, December 10, said that peace talks on ending Russia's war in Ukraine could begin this winter.
Tusk, whose country is a staunch backer of neighboring Ukraine and next month will take over the rotating EU presidency, also announced a series of upcoming talks with foreign officials. He said that he will speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later on Tuesday and would welcome French President Emmanuel Macron to Poland on Thursday.
French President Emmanuel Macron will discuss with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk the deployment of a postwar peacekeeping force in Ukraine when the two meet in Warsaw on Thursday, a European Union diplomat and a French official told POLITICO.
The meeting of the two EU heavyweights comes amid increasing fears that the incoming administration of Donald Trump will force the Europeans to pick up more of the military responsibilities in Ukraine.
Some 44.6 percent of Ukrainians trust United States President-elect Donald Trump, according to a new national poll commissioned by New Europe Center NGO, published on Tuesday. This comes despite Trump's threats to halt aid to Ukraine, force it to make a deal with Russia and pull out of NATO.
“This high level of support shows Ukraine expects clearer and more decisive policy towards Ukraine from the new U.S. administration," the NGO said in a statement. "It cannot be ruled out that some respondents have certain hopes for the restoration of peace in Ukraine, which Trump emphasized during his election campaign."
“Together, we will secure peace through strength, and make America, and the world, safe again!”
This is the pledge of U.S. President-elect Trump. Not incrementalism, not abandoning Ukraine, not capitulating to the Kremlin’s nuclear blackmail, but strength. And strength, wielded wisely and decisively, is exactly what it will take to pull the world back from the brink, restore deterrence and bring Russia’s criminal war to an end.
However, strength must have a purpose, a focus. It shouldn’t be wasted on managing symptoms. Yet, for decades, we framed the Kremlin’s actions as aberrations rather than inevitabilities, pinning the country’s unrelenting aggression on one man — wanted war criminal Russian President Vladimir Putin. We were wrong.
If U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is to succeed in brokering a peace deal, he must change Putin’s perspective that he has the upper hand, or Trump’s diplomacy will backfire. To go into talks with a strong hand, Trump will need to bolster U.S. and Ukrainian leverage. And he must do so quickly, without the torturous delays and self-imposed red lines that have characterized President Joe Biden’s support for Ukraine over the last three years. The Trump administration should therefore formulate a maximum pressure campaign to convince Moscow to accept a good and lasting peace deal. By keeping his promise to restore “peace through strength,” Trump can give himself the best possible chance of stopping the bloodshed for good.
Tusk and Macron will explore the idea of potentially sending European troops as part of a discussion on how to shore up Ukraine over the short-and the long-term, the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are private.
They cautioned that the proposal will depend on an eventual peace deal that could emerge between Ukraine and Russia. President Vladimir Putin has so far shown no willingness to discuss a ceasefire. Countries including China and Brazil have floated their own proposals to end fighting in the past.
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