Trump will not be able to negotiate a peace deal in Ukraine, - Kuleba
Date: 2024-12-16 Author: Кирило Загоруйко Categories: WAR
It will be difficult for the new US President Donald Trump to negotiate peace in Ukraine. As the country's former Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a commentary to The Times, there are still "fundamental differences" between Russia and Ukraine that make peace impossible.
"In my opinion, there will be no quick negotiations," he said.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded NATO membership as the price for peace. However, Kuleba believes that the Alliance will offer Ukraine to join only in 10-20 years. At the same time, according to him, such a proposal is unacceptable, since during this period Ukraine will be vulnerable to further Russian attacks.
"The real end of this war will be that only one of us will survive. Either Ukraine or Putin," he said.
In addition, Kuleba criticized the idea of deploying British and French peacekeepers on the front line while Ukraine awaits NATO membership, saying that the money would be better spent on arms supplies:
"The estimate for a peacekeeping mission is 40,000 troops. Try to stretch 40,000 troops along a 1,500-kilometer front line. It will be a very thin red line."
At the same time, the former foreign minister does not believe that Trump will follow through on his threat to cut off military aid to Ukraine. According to him, Trump will be forced to change his mind if Kyiv is threatened by Russian troops again.
"He has excellent instincts in assessing what is good for him here and now - and that can change. If things go really badly for Ukraine on the battlefield, there is a risk of being accused of throwing Ukraine under the train. He will change his mind and provide assistance," he said.
Kuleba also said that European politicians are too afraid of their voters to increase defense spending, and accused them of ignoring intelligence data about the real possibility of war with Russia.
However, he said, Britain, Germany and France will have no choice but to continue military assistance.
"I don't think Europe will betray Ukraine for a very simple reason - because they know that if Ukraine falls, the war will come to their land. So whatever the check for supporting Ukraine, the check for them to wage war themselves will be much higher," he said.
