Demilitarised zone in Ukraine and abandonment of NATO: Trump's running mate outlines "plan for ending the war"
Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance has outlined the Trump administration's prospective plan to settle the war in Ukraine, which includes establishing a "demilitarised zone" on Ukrainian territory and denying Ukraine NATO membership.
The approach he outlined would be a dramatic change in the policy of the Joe Biden administration, which is focused on providing military and other assistance to Ukraine.
"I think what this looks like is Trump sits down, he says to the Russians, the Ukrainians, the Europeans: ‘You guys need to figure out, what is a peaceful settlement look like?’ And what it probably looks like is something like the current line of demarcation between Russia and Ukraine that becomes like a demilitarised zone," Vance said on The Sean Ryan Show.
The proposed demilitarised zone, Vance added, would be "heavily fortified so the Russians don't invade again."
According to the US vice presidential candidate, as part of the peace plan, Ukraine would maintain its independence in exchange for neutrality, which means it would not join NATO or other "allied institutions."
Vance did not clarify who would oversee the "demilitarised zone," but stated the current demarcation line would stay, implying Ukraine would not reclaim territory now seized by Russia.
During the interview, he also stated that Russia "should not have invaded" Ukraine, but that "Ukrainians have a lot of corruption problems." Vance called erroneous the definition of the Ukraine-Russia war as a battle between good and evil, and the United States' assistance to Ukraine as "the great humanitarian mission of our time."
"There are a lot of risks to us of staying there and trying to encourage the Ukrainians to hold on to Crimea. The question is: how many American lives will it cost to do that? And if the answer is more than zero – I’m out," Vance explained.
He also said that Europe underfunded this war, while "American taxpayers have been very generous to the Ukrainians."
He stated that the Biden administration's approach is to "throw money at this problem, hope the Ukrainians will achieve the military victory that even the Ukrainians are saying ‘we can’t achieve’," Vance added.
"Donald Trump's policy is: yes to be strong, but also to be smart. Negotiate," Vance said.
Donald Trump has repeatedly spoken about the existence of a certain "plan" to end the war in Ukraine "within 24 hours" if he wins the November presidential race.
This week, during a presidential debate versus Vice President Kamala Harris, he did not clearly state his plan, avoiding a straight response to the question of whether Ukraine should win the war with Russia.
Zelenskyy said that he would present his plan for Ukraine's victory to US President Joe Biden in September and would also pass it on to US presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.