West must negotiate war's end based on 'current realities,' Shoigu says
The West should recognize that Russia is currently winning the war against Ukraine and therefore start negotiations, Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of Russia's Security Council, said on Nov. 7, the Russian state news agency TASS reported.
Shoigu's statement comes shortly after Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 5.
Trump's victory also comes at an especially precarious moment in the war, when Russian troops advance swiftly in Donetsk Oblast. The president-elect has previously criticized military aid to Ukraine and voiced his intention to "get out" of the war.
Former Defense Minister Shoigu accused the West of trying to use Ukraine to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, adding that the plan had failed.
"The West is facing a choice — to continue funding it (the war) and destroying the Ukrainian population or to recognize the current realities and start negotiations," Shoigu said.
Trump has criticized President Volodymyr Zelensky while on the campaign trail.
He previously laid the blame for Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Zelensky and U.S. President Joe Biden without mentioning Russian President Vladimir Putin and has referred to Zelensky as a "salesman" for securing what Trump deemed too much military aid.
During the campaign, Trump claimed that if he returns to the White House, he will end Russia’s war in Ukraine within "24 hours." He hinted at his message again while delivering his victory speech, telling his cheering supporters, "I'm going to stop the wars."
The Wall Street Journal reported that the plan might involve postponing Ukraine's accession to NATO by at least 20 years, freezing the war along the current front lines, and establishing a demilitarized zone in the east.
Chris York
