‘We will achieve peace through strength’: Trump names envoy to end Ukraine war

During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump was very skeptical of the billions that the Biden administration has granted to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022. The Republican has repeatedly promised to put quickly end this war with Russia, without however specifying how.

Even before entering the White House in January, Donald Trump’s team wants to start working with the administration of outgoing President Joe Biden to reach an “arrangement” between Ukraine and Russia, while saying worried about the current “escalation”, according to Mike Waltz, the future White House security advisor. The president-elect’s bodyguards strongly denounced Joe Biden’s decision to authorize Ukraine to strike on Russian territory with American-made long-range missiles.

“He’s been with me since the beginning!” Together we will achieve peace through strength and make America and the world safe again! », Wrote the president-elect in a publication on his Truth Social network.

Since the election of Donald Trump on November 5, Europeans have feared a disengagement of the United States from this conflict or even American pressure for an agreement to the detriment of kyiv. “President Trump has been very clear about the need to end this conflict. What we need to discuss is who will be at the table, whether it is an agreement, an armistice, how to bring both sides to the table and what the framework will be. an arrangement,” Mike Waltz said on Fox News on Sunday.

Military aid conditional on talks

The ex-general has already laid the groundwork to bring everyone around the table. “Any future American military aid will require Ukraine to participate in peace talks with Russia,” he recommended in a memo in the spring. He also called for “postponing Ukraine’s membership in NATO for an extended period” in order to “convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to participate in peace talks.”

He also recognized that “the Ukrainian government and people will have difficulty accepting a negotiated peace that does not return all of their territory to them.” “But as Donald Trump said in 2023: “I want everyone to stop dying.” This is also our point of view. This is a good first step,” he wrote.

Donald Trump, who placed his first mandate under the sign of “America first”, regularly denounces the enormous amounts released by Washington for kyiv since the Russian invasion in February 2022. Just before a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky in September , he called the Ukrainian president “the best salesman on the planet”. “Every time he comes to our country, he leaves with 60 billion dollars,” he quipped.

However, the two men have since spoken by telephone: just after Donald Trump’s victory in the American presidential election. Volodymyr Zelensky called this call “excellent”. “We agreed to maintain close dialogue and advance our cooperation,” he said.

Russia attacks Ukraine’s energy facilities

In the meantime and while temperatures are close to 0°C, Russia continues its offensive on the ground. Ukraine announced this Thursday a “massive attack” on its energy infrastructure, reporting missile attacks targeting several regions which led to power cuts. “Once again, the energy sector is under massive attack from the enemy,” the Energy Ministry said on Facebook. Emergency power cuts were implemented in particular in kyiv, Odessa and Dnipro, said the operator DTEK.