Earlier this month, the Biden Administration extended long-term security guarantees to Ukraine. President Biden signed a bilateral security pact with Volodymyr Zelensky during the G7 meeting in Italy, promising security for the next 10 years following the approval for the embattled country. The agreement includes plans for defending Ukraine now and in the future by creating a force that will be able to deter Russia. This would provide Ukraine with a military built to Western standards and push back the issue relating to Kyiv’s membership in NATO.
But the man who could be US President in November, Donald Trump, has other ideas. He has promised to end the war in Ukraine in a day and a Trump victory would lead to a major shift in American policy in Europe, if not the world.
A Reuters report says that Trump has been looking at a plan from two of his advisors that would force Ukraine to make peace. The US would threaten Ukraine with a weapons cut-off, if it did not enter into peace talks with Russia and Moscow would be persuaded to fall in line using threats to increase support to Kyiv dramatically.
The plan would essentially call for a ceasefire along existing lines. While the authors of the plan do not say that Ukraine be compelled to cede territory, given the ground situation, halting the war anytime in 2024 would simply freeze the situation resulting in the loss of large areas of eastern and southern Ukraine to Russia.
