Trump adviser says focus of ending Ukraine war must be peace

A senior adviser to Donald Trump has claimed the focus of his administration will be achieving peace in Ukraine rather than regaining territory. 

Republican strategist Bryan Lanza said that the president-elect's vision for the country's ongoing war against Russia, which began in January 2022, is not one 'for winning, but it's a vision for peace' 

He added that regaining Crimea, which was occupied by Vladimir Putin's forces in 2014, was not an achievable goal and 'not the goal of the United States'.

Mr Lanza, who began advising Trump his 2016 campaign, told the BBC: 'When Zelensky says we will only stop this fighting, there will only be peace once Crimea is returned, we've got news for President Zelensky: Crimea is gone.'

Since the start of the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to retake Crimea and is adamant that Kyiv should not surrender territory to the Kremlin.

Appearing on the BBC World Service's Weekend programme earlier today, Mr Lanza said: 'What we're going to say to Ukraine is, you know what you see? What do you see as a realistic vision for peace? 

'It's not a vision for winning, but it's a vision for peace. And let's start having the honest conversation,' 

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'And if that is your priority of getting Crimea back and having American soldiers fight to get Crimea back, you're on your own.'

It comes as Trump's plans to end the war in Ukraine the early were recently revealed following his historic election win. 

The proposal would see the current border frozen in place and a 800-mile demilitarised zone being policed by British and European troops. 

No United States troops would be sent to the warzone and it would be for Britain and other states to pick up the tab.

The plan, first reported in the Wall Street Journal, matches the isolationist rhetoric of Mr Trump's presidential bid. 

On the campaign trail Mr Trump criticised the scale of US support for Ukraine – a commitment of $175 billion – and boasted he could broker a deal to end the conflict.

Senior UK security sources have reacted furiously to Mr Trump's move, insisting it favoured Russia and condemned Ukraine to a carve-up of its territory. Speaking at a security conference in Sochi, Putin seized upon the vulnerability of Nato under a Trump presidency by mocking the organisation's reliance on the US.

He claimed that without US leadership Nato would no longer be able to dominate its 'zone of influence'. 

Putin's assessment is supported by official Nato figures which reveal the US currently spends twice as much on defence as all other members of the alliance combined. 

Mr Trump's 'America First' strategy includes withdrawing from Europe's security apparatus.

Such a scenario – and Putin's possible response to it – arguably represents the most significant threat to Nato since its inception following World War Two.

Setting out his country's foreign policy agenda, Putin added that Nato was subject to 'the diktat of the older brother', meaning the US.

He then compared this imbalance to the supposed equality of the BRICS group of countries – an intergovernmental organisation led by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Reacting to the Trump peace plan for Ukraine, former British Army commander Hamish de Bretton-Gordon said: 'This would be a capitulation to Putin rewarding him for his war crimes.

'As British troops act as peacekeepers in what is currently Russian-held territory in eastern Ukraine, I fear Putin will re-arm and plan an assault on the Baltic states. The plan, as outlined, favours Russia and is exactly what the Kremlin wants to hear.'

Former UK military intelligence officer Philip Ingram added: 'Any forced peace that would give Russia a veneer of winning territory would potentially stimulate World War Three.