Now Trump must decide how to implement the promise to end war in Ukraine

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports that Donald Trump is now inundated with competing proposals from advisers to implement his campaign promise to end the war in Ukraine by Inauguration Day.The U.S. president-elect reportedly has yet to approve a specific plan to bring both sides to the negotiating table, but the WSJ’s sources say all the proposals on his desk break from the Biden Administration’s approach of letting Kyiv dictate when peace talks should begin.According to the WSJ, the options before Trump uniformly recommend freezing the war, “cementing Russia’s seizure of roughly 20 percent of Ukraine” and forcing Ukraine to suspend its pursuit of NATO membership for at least 20 years.  The war’s current front line “would essentially lock in place,” and both sides would agree to an 800-mile demilitarized zone guarded by European peacekeepers and no U.S. troops or soldiers from a U.S.-funded international body, such as the United Nations.Meanwhile Foreign Policy (FP) says someone in Donald Trump’s inner circle needs to take him to one side and tell him this home truth: as president-elect, he must immediately explain his plan to end the war in Ukraine.Trump, still celebrating his historic victory, will naturally be thinking about his domestic agenda. But he should understand that the longer that he dithers, the more strategic advantages he hands to Russia—which is now a firm U.S. adversary, according to FP.Ideally, his plan reportedly should not involve Ukraine giving up territory that has been captured by Russia over the course of the war.  Nor should it be based on empty promises from Russian President Vladimir Putin, which he has a history of making.The need for clarity on the ground in Ukraine is reportedly obvious. NATO sources and Western security officials almost universally agree that Ukraine is slowly losing the war and that this winter will be critical. Trump’s victory in the United States has only heightened these concerns, not least because he has a history of making tepid statements about Ukraine and the war.FP notes that Trump has previously said that Ukraine should have ceded territory to Russia ahead of the invasion, claiming that even “the worst deal would’ve been better than what we have now.” He also accused Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, of making “little nasty aspersions toward your favorite president, me.”The situation in much of Ukraine is already grave.The Associated Press (AP) reports the Trump has insisted he can end Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war, without explaining how.  Trump summarizes his approach through another Reagan phrase: “peace through strength.” But he remains critical of NATO and top U.S. military brass.  “I don’t consider them leaders,” Trump said of Pentagon officials that Americans “see on television.”  He repeatedly praised authoritarians like Hungary’s Viktor Orban and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.The BBC reported on November 6 that Donald Trump’s return to the White House is set to reshape US foreign policy, promising potentially radical shifts on multiple fronts as war and uncertainty grip parts of the world.According to the BBC, a research paper written by two of Trump’s former national security chiefs in May said the US should continue its weapons supply to Ukraine, but make the support conditional on Kyiv entering peace talks with Russia.To entice Russia, the West would promise to delay Ukraine’s much-wanted entry into NATO. The former advisers said Ukraine should not give up its hopes of getting all of its territory back from Russian occupation, but that it should negotiate based on current front lines.