Kyiv's European partners are growing optimistic that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will not pressure Ukraine into accepting a painful peace deal, Bloomberg reported on Jan. 14, citing undisclosed European officials.
Following closed-door talks with Trump's team, the officials see a rising chance that the new U.S. leadership will seek to help Ukraine negotiate from the position of strength, the outlet wrote.
Trump, returning to the White House on Jan. 20, initially caused concern among the pro-Kyiv coalition by his declared sympathies for Russian President Vladimir Putin and criticism of the Biden administration's military support for Ukraine.
The president-elect has reportedly proved more flexible on the matter than expected. His team is particularly receptive to arguments about Russia's victory emboldening China and dealing the U.S. a humiliation similar to the Taliban's victory in Afghanistan in 2021, according to Bloomberg's sources.
Trump has pledged to bring a swift end to the war but provided few details on how he plans to achieve this. A pitch leaked from his team — freezing the front lines, postponing Ukraine's NATO accession by 20 years, and deploying European peacekeepers on the ground — has already been rejected by Russia.
There were other signals that Trump does not intend to cut the support for Ukraine completely as part of his plan to resolve the war. Speaking to the Time magazine, the president-elect said he would not "abandon" the besieged country, though criticizing the Biden administration for permitting long-range strikes on Russian soil.
According to the Financial Times, Trump told the Europan allies he plans to continue supporting Ukraine while asking them to raise their defense spending levels to 5% of GDP. This echoes Trump's earlier appeals to Europe to take up greater responsibility both for Ukraine's defense and for their own security.
Asami Terajima
(Updated: )
