According to the Washington Post, former President Donald Trump, if elected, intends to push Ukraine to surrender Crimea and the Donbas region to Russia in order to end the war.
Zelenskyy has reiterated that Ukraine will not cede any territory to Russia from its 1991 borders.
“Trump’s proposal consists of pushing Ukraine to cede Crimea and the Donbas border region to Russia, according to people who discussed it with Trump or his advisers and spoke on the condition of anonymity,” the WP reports.
Privately, Trump has said he believes both Russia and Ukraine “want to save face” and that some Ukrainians would accept being part of Russia, the WP reported, citing a person familiar with Trump’s thinking.
The former US president had previously claimed he could stop the war within 24 hours by bringing the parties to the negotiating table.
Granting Russia permanent control over Ukrainian territory would expand Putin’s authoritarian reach following Europe’s largest land war since WWII. Some of Trump’s own supporters have tried to dissuade him from this stance.
“He has to pay a price. He can’t win at the end of this,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, referring to Putin.
The Trump campaign declined to comment, dismissing the report as speculation from uninformed sources.
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