Trump advisor says priority over Ukraine is peace, not the return of territory

A senior adviser to US President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview broadcast on Saturday that the new administration’s priority for Ukraine would be to achieve peace and not restore lost territory, including Crimea.

Bryan Lanza, a longtime Republican Party strategist, told the BBC that the Trump administration would ask Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a “realistic vision for peace.”

“And if President Zelenskyy comes to the table and says, well, we can only have peace if we have Crimea, he shows us that he is not serious. Crimea no longer exists,” he said. “And if your priority is to take back Crimea and have American soldiers fight to get it back, you’re on your own.”

He said the priority was “peace and stopping the killing.”

“What we’re going to say to Ukraine is, do you know what you see? What do you see as a realistic vision for peace? It’s not a vision for winning, but a vision for peace. And we’re going to start having a sincere conversation , said.

Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014 after a revolt that caused the pro-Russian Ukrainian president to flee. More than two and a half years after launching their invasion, Russian forces hold just under 20% of their territory.

Zelenskyy has repeatedly stated that peace cannot be achieved until all Russian forces are expelled and all territory captured by Moscow, including Crimea, is returned. His “victory plan,” presented last month, maintains that provision, as well as an invitation for Ukraine to join NATO, long criticized by Russia.

Ukraine has requested modern weapons from the United States, as well as authorization to use them against Russian targets, but has never requested the deployment of American forces on its territory.

Russian troops failed in their initial advance on the Ukrainian capital, kyiv, but in recent months they have been capturing a series of towns on the eastern front.

Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin said in June that conditions for peace talks included Ukraine abandoning the four regions Moscow has annexed, although it does not have full control over them.

During the election campaign, Trump said he would find a solution to end the war “in one day,” but he did not explain how he would do it.

Zelenskyy and Trump spoke by phone this week after the US election, in a conversation joined by billionaire Elon Musk, a Trump supporter, according to the media.

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