Three proposals presented to Trump to end the war in Ukraine

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA): Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday, citing informed sources, that the future president is considering various plans to end the war in Ukraine.

It is said that advisers to future US President Donald Trump are publicly or privately presenting their plans to him to end the war in Ukraine, which also include territorial concessions.

According to Reuters, so far three different plans have been proposed by three senior Trump advisers, including Keith Kellogg, Trump's potential representative on Russia and Ukraine issues, which also include dropping Ukraine's request for membership in the NATO military alliance.

According to the report, Trump will try to use the policy of threats to force Moscow and Kiev to sit at the negotiating table. In a way that if Kiev does not accept, US military aid to Ukraine will be stopped, and if Vladimir Putin does not accept the start of negotiations, US aid will be increased.

During his election campaign, Trump emphasized that he would end the almost three-year war in Ukraine within 24 hours of his inauguration. However, experts believe that this is far from being possible in a limited time, given the complexity of the Ukrainian crisis.

However, recent statements by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky indicate his willingness to negotiate. Ukraine is facing a shortage of military forces and is still losing territory, so the possibility of Kiev accepting negotiations is strong.

Nevertheless, the Ukrainian government insists on NATO membership, but Zelensky has acknowledged that the country's army does not have the capacity to regain some of the lost territory and that "diplomatic solutions" must be adopted for this.

In contrast, according to American analysts, it is likely that Russian President Vladimir Putin will show little interest in negotiations, as he has put the Ukrainians in a weak position and delaying the talks will likely lead to further Russian advances on the conflict fronts.

In addition, Putin has emphasized that peace talks will not begin until the Russian-controlled areas of the Kursk region are retaken from Ukraine.

Former senior US intelligence analyst Eugene Romer said that “Putin is in no hurry” and will likely continue to advance in Ukraine and wait to consider Trump’s proposals to start negotiations.

Moscow’s leaders have set several conditions for starting peace talks, including Kiev’s abandonment of NATO membership and acceptance of Russian control over four Ukrainian provinces, large parts of which are now under the control of the country’s army. These proposals have been rejected by Kiev.

Russia now controls all of Crimea, 80 percent of Donbas (Donetsk and Luhansk), more than 70 percent of Kherson and Zaporozhye, and has also taken control of small parts of Mykolaiv and Kharkiv.

Although Donald Trump has not yet established a specific working group to prepare a peace plan, several advisers have presented their plans to him publicly or privately, Reuters reported, citing four unnamed sources.

However, the shape of the ceasefire agreement is likely to depend on direct interactions between Trump, Putin and Zelensky.

A former Trump security adviser added that there are currently three main plans for a ceasefire: the plan presented by Kellogg, the plan by J.D. Vance, the first vice president, and the plan by Richard Grenell, a former US intelligence official.

The Kellogg plan, developed with former National Security Council official Fred Fletcher, was presented to Trump in recent months and calls for the current borders to be fixed and for Russia to be considered.

Under the plan, Trump would send more weapons to Ukraine if it agreed to peace talks, while warning Moscow that military aid to Kiev would increase if it did not come to the negotiating table. The plan would delay Ukraine’s NATO membership, but the United States would offer Kiev more security guarantees.

J.D. Vance, now a U.S. senator, has opposed more aid to Ukraine and presented a separate plan in September. He said in an interview that the future agreement would likely include the creation of a demilitarized zone along the current borders that would be “heavily fortified” to deter further Russian attacks. Vance’s proposal also includes Kiev’s exclusion from NATO. Garnell, who was present at the September meeting between Trump and Zelensky, is still considered Trump's confidant on European affairs, despite not yet having a position in the incoming administration, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Garnell proposed the creation of an "autonomous region" in eastern Ukraine at a Bloomberg roundtable in July. Although he did not provide further details, he also stressed that Ukraine's membership in NATO is not in the US's interest. None of the proposers have yet commented on the Reuters report.

Given that the Ukrainian president has insisted in his "victory plan" to the United States that the country be invited to NATO, the proposals are likely to be met with opposition from him, European allies and some US lawmakers, a former security official said.