Trump Demands Ukrainian Surrender

The Final Punchline of a Failed Negotiation Process

The prospect of a diplomatic settlement to the War in Ukraine has eluded Trump since the start of his second term. After weeks of negotiations with Russian and Ukrainian policymakers, the White House has unveiled what would appear to be its final conditions for a peace process in Ukraine.

Simply put, the Trump administration is pushing a plan of Ukrainian surrender.

According to descriptions of the one-page proposal presented by the White House to the governments of Russia and Ukraine, the American vision for ending the War in Ukraine begins with freezing the conflict along the current line of contact between both countries. The United States would recognize the legitimacy of the 2014 annexation of Crimea, as well as Russia’s occupation of Donetsk and Luhansk and current holdings in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Additionally, future Ukrainian membership in NATO would be ruled out, and sanctions levied against Russia from the 2014 annexation of Crimea to the present would be lifted. In excha…