MORE THAN ONE PLAN
As of last week, Trump had yet to convene a central working group to flesh out a peace plan, according to four advisers who requested anonymity to describe private deliberations. Rather, several advisers have pitched ideas among themselves in public forums and – in some cases – to Trump, they said.
Ultimately, a peace agreement will likely depend on direct personal engagement between Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy, the advisers said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was “not possible to comment on individual statements without having an idea of the plan as a whole.”
Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt noted that Trump has said he “will do what is necessary to restore peace and rebuild American strength and deterrence on the world stage.”
A Trump representative did not immediately respond to a follow-up question about whether the president-elect still plans to resolve the conflict within a day of taking office.
The Ukrainian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
One former Trump national security official involved in the transition said there are three main proposals: the outline by Kellogg, one from Vice President-elect JD Vance and another advanced by Richard Grenell, Trump’s former acting intelligence chief.
Kellogg’s plan, co-authored with former National Security Council official Fred Fleitz and presented to Trump earlier this year, calls for freezing the current battle lines.
Kellogg and Fleitz did not respond to requests for comment. Their plan was first reported by Reuters.
Trump would supply more US weapons to Kyiv only if it agreed to peace talks. At the same time, he would warn Moscow that he would increase US aid to Ukraine if Russia rejected negotiations. NATO membership for Ukraine would be put on hold.
Ukraine also would be offered US security guarantees, which could include boosting weapons supplies after an accord is struck, according to that proposal.
In a June interview with Times Radio, a British digital station, Sebastian Gorka, one of Trump’s incoming deputy national security advisers, said Trump had told him he would force Putin into talks by threatening unprecedented weapons shipments to Ukraine if Putin refused.
Gorka, reached by phone, called Reuters “fake news garbage” and declined to elaborate.
Vance, who as a US senator has opposed aid to Ukraine, floated a separate idea in September.
He told US podcaster Shawn Ryan that a deal likely would include a demilitarised zone at the existing front lines that would be “heavily fortified” to prevent further Russian incursions. His proposal would deny NATO membership to Kyiv.
Representatives for Vance did not make him available for comment, and he has yet to offer additional details.
Grenell, Trump’s former ambassador to Germany, advocated the creation of “autonomous zones” in eastern Ukraine during a Bloomberg roundtable in July but did not elaborate. He also suggested NATO membership for Ukraine was not in America’s interest.
Grenell, who did not respond to a request for comment, has yet to secure a position in the new administration, although he still has Trump’s ear on European issues, a senior Trump foreign policy adviser told Reuters.
That person said Grenell was one of the few people at a September meeting in New York between Trump and Zelenskyy.
Source: CNA
