Advisers to President-elect Donald Trump have conceded that a deal to end the war in Ukraine will likely take months or potentially even longer, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
Two unnamed Trump “associates” who spoke with Reuters described Trump’s promise to end the conflict within 24 hours as “campaign bluster” and a lack of understanding about the war.
Keith Kellog, Trump’s incoming envoy to the conflict, has said he hopes to have a deal within the first 100 days of the administration.
Trump’s incoming national security advisor, Rep. Mike Waltz, has said the next administration will ask Ukraine to lower its conscription age from 25 to 18 to “stabilize” the battlefield, a sign that he expects the war to continue.
It’s also unclear what sort of deal the Trump administration might offer Russia that would be acceptable to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has already rejected proposals that have reportedly been discussed by the Trump transition team.
Bloomberg reported Wednesday that Putin is expected to ask Trump for a guarantee that Ukraine won’t ever join NATO, which has been Moscow’s main demand since before the invasion was launched on February 22, 2022. Waltz has said that a Trump-Putin call is expected to happen in the coming days or weeks.
