Donald Trump's team distances itself from Ukraine peace plan outlined by Republican operative
Donald Trump spoke to Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the week.
In short:
A Republican operative who outlined elements of a Ukraine peace plan was not speaking on behalf of Donald Trump, according to the US president-elect's transition team.
Bryan Lanza, a long-time Republican strategist who was a contractor on Trump's 2024 campaign, had earlier said the new administration's priority in Ukraine would be establishing peace and not restoring lost territory, including Crimea.
What's next?
Trump will meet with Joe Biden this week in the White House after being issued an invitation by the outgoing president.
Donald Trump's presidential transition effort says a Republican operative who outlined some potential contours of a US-backed peace plan in Ukraine earlier in the day was not speaking on behalf of the president-elect.
Bryan Lanza, a long-time Republican strategist who was a contractor on Trump's 2024 campaign, said in an interview with the BBC that Trump's administration would be asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a "realistic vision for peace".
He said the new administration's priority in Ukraine would be establishing peace and not restoring lost territory, including Crimea.
"And if President Zelenskiy comes to the table and says, 'well, we can only have peace if we have Crimea', he shows to us that he's not serious. Crimea is gone," he said.
Trump will meet with Joe Biden this week in the White House after being issued an invitation by the outgoing president.
An honour guard forms in Kyiv for a fallen Ukrainian serviceman.
Lanza 'does not speak for' Trump
Responding to Mr Lanza's comments, a spokesperson for the transition denied that Mr Lanza — who was on Trump's transition team after the 2016 election — spoke for Trump.
Trump's transition effort is currently vetting personnel and drafting the policies that Trump could adopt during his second term.
"Bryan Lanza was a contractor for the campaign," said the spokesperson, who declined to be named.
"He does not work for President Trump and does not speak for him."
During the election campaign, Trump said he would find a solution to end the war "within a day", but did not explain how he would do so.
Mr Zelenskyy and Trump spoke by telephone this week after the US election in a conversation joined by billionaire Trump supporter Elon Musk, according to media reports.
Russia holds almost 20 per cent of Ukrainian territory
Trump himself has declined to rule out the possibility that Ukraine may have to cede land to Russia and has been notably vague when discussing the conflict.
Some high-profile allies have put forth peace proposals that would in practice result in long-term Russian rule over areas internationally recognised as Ukrainian territory.
Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula in 2014 after an uprising that prompted Ukraine's Russia-friendly president to flee.
More than two-and-a-half years after launching its full-fledged invasion, Russian forces hold just under 20 per cent of its territory.
Mr Zelenskyy has repeatedly said peace could not be established until all Russian forces were expelled and all territory captured by Moscow, including Crimea, was returned.
His "victory plan" presented last month maintains that provision as well as an invitation for Ukraine to join NATO, long denounced by Russia.
Ukraine has sought modern weapons from the United States as well as authorisation to use them on Russian targets but it has never called for US forces to be deployed on its territory.
Russian troops failed in their initial advance on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv but in recent months have been capturing a string of villages on the eastern front.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in June that conditions for peace talks included Ukraine abandoning the four regions Moscow has annexed, though it does not have full control over them.
Biden and Trump to meet
Mr Biden will host Trump for a traditional post-election meeting in the Oval Office on Wednesday local time, according to the White House.
Such a meeting is customary between the outgoing president and the incoming president, and is meant partly to mark the start of a peaceful transfer of power under America's democracy.
But Trump, a Republican, did not host Mr Biden, a Democrat, for a sit-down after the 2020 election, when Trump lost his re-election bid.
The White House said Mr Biden called Trump last Wednesday to congratulate him and invite him to meet in the Oval Office.
In a speech on Thursday, Mr Biden said he had assured Trump "that I would direct my entire administration to work with his team to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition. That's what the American people deserve."
Reuters
By：ABC(责任编辑：admin)
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