Three Ukraine peace plans proposed to Trump, all include taking NATO membership off the table – media
Advisers to Donald Trump publicly and privately are floating proposals to end the Ukraine war that would cede large parts of the country to Russia for the foreseeable future, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
"The proposals by three key advisers, including Trump's incoming Russia-Ukraine envoy, retired Army Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg, share some elements, including taking NATO membership for Ukraine off the table. Trump's advisers would try forcing Moscow and Kyiv into negotiations with carrots and sticks, including halting military aid to Kyiv unless it agrees to talk but boosting assistance if Russian President Vladimir Putin refuses," it said.
Accordng to four advisers who requested anonymity, Trump had yet to convene a central working group to flesh out a peace plan as of last week. Rather, several advisers have pitched ideas among themselves in public forums and – in some cases – to Trump, they said. Ultimately, a peace agreement will likely depend on direct personal engagement between Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy, the advisers said.
One former Trump national security official involved in the transition said there are three main proposals: the outline by Kellogg, one from Vice President-elect JD Vance and another advanced by Richard Grenell, Trump's former acting intelligence chief.
Kellogg's plan, co-authored with former National Security Council official Fred Fleitz and presented to Trump at the beginning of 2024, calls for freezing the current battle lines. Trump would supply more U.S. weapons to Kyiv only if it agreed to peace talks. At the same time, he would warn Moscow that he would increase U.S. aid to Ukraine if Russia rejected negotiations. NATO membership for Ukraine would be put on hold. Ukraine also would be offered U.S. security guarantees, which could include boosting weapons supplies after an accord is struck, according to that proposal.
In a June interview with Times Radio, a British digital station, Sebastian Gorka, one of Trump's incoming deputy national security advisers, said Trump had told him he would force Putin into talks by threatening unprecedented weapons shipments to Ukraine if Putin refused.
Vance, who as a U.S. senator has opposed aid to Ukraine, floated a separate idea in September. He said that a deal likely would include a demilitarized zone at the existing front lines that would be "heavily fortified" to prevent further Russian incursions. His proposal would deny NATO membership to Kyiv.
Grenell, Trump's former ambassador to Germany, advocated the creation of "autonomous zones" in eastern Ukraine during a Bloomberg roundtable in July but did not elaborate. He also suggested NATO membership for Ukraine was not in America's interest.
Analysts and former national security officials say that some elements of the proposals would likely face pushback from Zelenskyy, who has made a NATO invitation part of his own "Victory Plan," and from European allies and some U.S. lawmakers.