U.S. President-elect Donald Trump may call on British and European troops to enforce a buffer zone that he would try to impose over the current front line in Ukraine, the Telegraph reported on Nov. 7, citing three Trump staffers.
Under one of the peace plans being considered by Trump, the current front line in Ukraine would be frozen, the Telegraph reported.
The U.S. would supply weapons to Ukraine to prevent Moscow from re-launching the war, according to the Telegraph. In exchange, Ukraine would agree not to pursue its ambition to join NATO for 20 years, the sources said.
Trump’s plan does not include deploying U.S. troops to patrol the 1,200-kilometer buffer zone or providing U.S. financial support for the mission, the Telegraph reported.
“We can do training and other support but the barrel of the gun is going to be European,” a member of Trump’s team said, as cited by the Telegraph. “We are not sending American men and women to uphold peace in Ukraine. And we are not paying for it. Get the Poles, Germans, British and French to do it.”
The findings from the report come amid speculation on how Trump will try to fulfill his promise to end the war quickly.
"If we have a win, long before Jan. 20, before I would take the presidency, long before that, I think we could work out something that is good for both sides," Trump said, standing alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in New York in September.
It remains unclear why Russia would want to pause at the current phase since Moscow's forces are currently at the height of their offensive in 2024 and reportedly still have the resources to keep pushing further.
On Nov. 9, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Russia was "ready to listen" to Trump's proposals but added that there would be no "simple solution."
Trump defeated Democratic candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 presidential election, adding further uncertainty for Ukraine as it struggles to envision its future. Trump previously served as president from 2017 to 2021, before Joe Biden took office.
Ukraine's leadership has said publicly that it plans to restore the country's 1991 borders, which includes the liberation of Crimea and parts of the Donbas occupied by Russia since 2014.
Chris York
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