Tusk: No decisions for Ukraine without Ukrainians, despite Trump's plans

Decisions about Ukraine’s future cannot be made without Ukrainians, despite U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's ceasefire plans, said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Polskie Radio reported on Nov. 9.

Trump’s plans for Ukraine are just in the discussion stages, Tusk said. Some of the proposals disclosed to the media include freezing the current front line and deploying British and European troops to enforce a buffer zone.

But Tusk stressed that “decisions on the war in Ukraine can neither be made over the heads of Ukrainians nor over ours." Europe will have to bear more responsibility for its security, he added.

Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi told the media on Nov. 10 that Kyiv is “grateful” for Tusk’s commitments and emphasized that Ukraine should “determine the parameters of the path to a comprehensive, just and sustainable peace.”

Trump previously said he would end the war in “24 hours,” but has not presented a clear path.  His team told The Telegraph that Trump would not send U.S. troops to Ukraine.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that Trump would not continue U.S. support for Ukraine.

However, French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot claimed that Trump would not abandon Ukraine. Trump is "too wise to agree to what would be the largest territorial annexation in 75 years," he told the French newspaper Le Parisien on Nov. 9.

Trump knows there would be no lasting peace if he went behind the backs of Ukraine and Europe, he added.

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 Donbas occupied by Russia since 2014.

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."

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.

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The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk