Donald Trump's plan to end war is to force Ukraine to give up territory – WP

Donald Trump, former US president and current candidate for presidency, has claimed in private conversations that he can stop Russia’s war against Ukraine by forcing Ukraine to give up occupied Crimea and Donbas.

Source: The Washington Post with reference to sources

Details: People familiar with Trump’s plans state that he had claimed that he could end the war by forcing Ukraine to cede some of its territories.

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 because those conversations were confidential.

The person who discussed this issue directly with Trump revealed that the former president stated in private conversations that both Russia and Ukraine "want to save face, they want a way out," and that people in parts of Ukraine would allegedly be okay with being part of Russia.

The WP states that accepting Russian control over parts of Ukraine would expand the reach of Putin’s dictatorship after what has been the biggest land war in Europe since World War II. Some of Trump’s supporters have been trying to persuade him against such an outcome.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham states that he spends "100 percent of (his) time talking to Trump about Ukraine".

"He (Putin – ed.) has to pay a price. He can’t win at the end of this," Graham added.

He revealed that he advised Trump against letting Russia have the land it wants and would like Trump to support Ukraine’s path towards NATO membership.

"The way you end this war to me is you make sure Ukraine gets into NATO and the EU," – Graham said. "He (Trump – ed.) doesn’t say much about that. I don’t know if he’s thought too much about it."

The Trump campaign declined to directly address questions for this article.

"Any speculation about President Trump’s plan is coming from unnamed and uninformed sources who have no idea what is going on or what will happen," campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

She added that "President Trump is the only one talking about stopping the killing".

WP adds that the information about Trump’s plan concerning Ukraine emerged in Washington last November during the meeting in Heritage Foundation between centre-rightists and the European Council Delegation on Foreign Relations which arrived on a visit.

According to "multiple people present for the meeting", Michael Anton, Trump's former aide in the White House, described the expected contours of Trump’s peace plan as Ukraine ceding territory in Crimea and Donbas, limiting NATO expansion and enticing Putin to loosen his growing reliance on China.

In March Anton, who WP contacted by phone, said he hadn’t spoken with Trump in 18 to 24 months and denied knowing anything about Trump’s plan for Ukraine. He did not respond to further questions.

Background: Earlier Trump often boasted that in case he was chosen the president, he would end the war between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours, but provided no details.

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