Zelensky must accept ‘Crimea is gone Brian Lanza, a senior adviser to US President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign, said the second administration of the US president-elect would focus on achieving peace in Ukraine rather than allowing it to regain all the territory it lost to Russia.
Lanza, a veteran Republican strategist who has worked on campaigns for Trump since 2016, made the comments to the BBC on Saturday. While expressing respect for the Ukrainian people, Lanza said the US priority would be to achieve “peace and stop the killing.”
The strategist dismissed Kyiv’s stated goal of expelling Russian forces from all the territory it claims as unrealistic. Lanza specifically mentioned Crimea, which broke away from Ukraine following the 2014 Maidan coup and was rejoined by Russia in a referendum. He did not mention four other regions that were part of Ukraine and were annexed by the country in 2022.
Lanza stressed that the United States will not fight on behalf of Ukraine to retake those areas from Russia. He added: “And if that is your priority, to retake Crimea and have American soldiers fight to retake Crimea, then you have a responsibility on your own.” Storie News
Instead, the Ukrainian leadership should come up with a “realistic vision for peace” ahead of potential negotiations. Lanza said Zelensky’s insistence that “we can only have peace if we get Crimea” showed he was “not serious.”
“What we’re going to say to Ukraine is: Do you know what you see? What is a realistic vision for peace that you see? It’s not a vision of winning, it’s a vision of peace. And let’s start having an honest conversation,” he added.
Donald Trump repeatedly promised to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours during his election campaign. However, he has offered few details on how he intends to do that. Meanwhile, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance has suggested that the conflict could be frozen along the current front line, with Kiev forced to abandon its claims to Russian-occupied territory and its ambition to join NATO.
Reuters reported late Saturday that Lanza’s comments on the Ukraine issue did not reflect Trump’s position.
“Brian was hired to work for the campaign, and he does not work for the president [now] or speak on his behalf,” the agency quoted a Trump campaign representative as saying.