'Crimea is gone': Focus must be on peace in Ukraine

November 10, 2024 00:00:00

Local residents inspect burnt-out cars in the courtyard of a residential building following a drone attack in Odesa on Saturday — AFP

NEW YORK, Nov 09 (BBC): A senior adviser to president-elect Donald Trump says the incoming administration will focus on achieving peace in the war in Ukraine rather than winning back territory.

Bryan Lanza, a Republican party strategist, told the BBC the Trump administration would ask Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for his version of a "realistic vision for peace".

"And if President Zelensky comes to the table and says, well we can only have peace if we have Crimea, he shows to us that he's not serious," he said.

Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula in 2014. Eight years later, it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has occupied territory in the country's east.

Trump has already spoken to Zelensky since winning the US election - the pair held a phone call on Wednesday with billionaire Elon Musk also taking part.

"It was a short chat with Musk, but it was a good lengthy conversation with Trump, it lasted about half an hour," a source in Ukraine's presidential office told the BBC.

"It was not really a conversation to talk about very substantial things, but overall it was very warm and pleasant." Trump has consistently said his priority is to end the war and stem the drain on US resources.

His Democrat opponents have accused him of cosying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin and say his approach to the war amounts to surrender for Ukraine and will endanger all of Europe.

Last month, Zelensky presented a "victory plan" to the Ukrainian parliament that included a refusal to trade Ukraine's territories and sovereignty.

During his election campaign, Trump repeatedly said he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine "in a day", but gave no details. A paper written by two of his former national security chiefs in May said the US should continue supplying weapons, but make the support conditional on Kyiv entering peace talks with Russia.

Ukraine should not give up its hopes of getting all of its territory back from Russian occupation, the paper said, but it should negotiate based on current front lines.