We will keep our promises, Trump assured during his victory speech on Wednesday.
Among the promises is an end to Russia's war in Ukraine "within 24 hours". This means that the incoming president now has to find a way to get Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyj to sit at the same negotiating table – something that has not happened since the outbreak of war in 2022.
Frozen Front Lines
Trump's plans may mean that Kyiv is forced to make significant concessions, according to The Wall Street Journal's sources. The proposals being discussed within the Trump camp are fundamentally different from those of the Biden administration, which consistently allowed Ukraine to dictate the terms of how and when peace talks should begin.
One of the proposals is that Kyiv promises not to try to join the defense alliance NATO for at least 20 years, according to three separate sources close to Trump. In return, the US would continue to supply Ukraine with weapons to deter future Russian attacks.
At the same time, today's front lines would in practice be frozen, and a demilitarized zone would be established along the eastern border, which Financial Times has also reported earlier.
Zelenskyj a "Salesman"
Russia currently occupies around 20 percent of Ukrainian territory in the south and east, according to The Kyiv Independent.
Prior to the election, Trump has repeatedly criticized the US's massive support to Ukraine and threatened to close the purse strings if he becomes president. In June, he called according to Politico Zelenskyj "one of the best salesmen I've ever seen" who gets billions of dollars every time he visits the US.
Earlier this year, two of Trump's advisors suggested that the US withholds weapons from Ukraine until Kyiv agrees to peace talks with Moscow, reports The Wall Street Journal.
