The plan of the 45th US President Donald Trump regarding the end of the Russian-Ukrainian war may involve a $500 billion lend-lease for Ukraine and the introduction of “real sanctions” against Russia.
This opinion was expressed in a column for The Wall Street Journal by Mike Pompeo, who is the former head of the CIA and the US Secretary of State during the Trump presidency.
Trump and the Russian war against Ukraine
He began by saying that various experts claim that if Donald Trump is re-elected president, he will stop aiding Ukraine, give up its territory and directly negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin to impose a shameful “peace” on the country.
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However, he believes, “there is no evidence that such a capitulation will become part of President Trump's policy, and there is much evidence to the contrary.
He recalls that it was Trump who lifted the Obama administration's arms embargo on Ukraine in 2017, providing the Ukrainian military with Javelin systems that helped save Kyiv in the early days of the Russian invasion, Pompeo writes.
In addition, the former US Secretary of State continues, Trump recently provided political cover to House Speaker Mike Johnson as he maneuvered to accept additional military aid.
— Helping Ukraine while rebuilding America's defense industrial base in Alabama, Pennsylvania, and Virginia is good policy, he writes..
He believes the weakness of the Biden White House has led to Ukraine being where it is today, with more than two years of full-scale war, cities destroyed, hundreds of thousands killed, millions of refugees, and no means to win.
The current White House, Pompeo continues, currently has no strategy for victory, and Americans are rightly concerned.
— If Biden got involved in the war out of weakness, then Trump can restore peace through strength, he believes.
Trump's plan for Ukraine
Therefore, the former US Secretary of State writes, here is what Trump's successful plan for Ukraine could look like:
- Unleash America's energy potential. This, Pompeo believes, will boost the American economy, lower prices and reduce Putin's budget for war crimes.
- Restore ties with Saudi Arabia and Israel and work together against Iran. This, according to the former US Secretary of State, stabilize the situation in the Middle East, ease the crisis in Gaza and enable the Saudis to join the US in ousting Russia from global energy markets.
- Impose real sanctions on Russia. Pompeo believes that the Biden administration's sanctions “sound good on paper but are empty.”
— For example, the Treasury exempts Russian banks from US sanctions if their operations are related to energy production, a critical source of revenue for the Kremlin's war machine, — the Republican believes.
- Strengthen America's defense industry.“We must show our adversaries, especially Russia and China, that they cannot compete with American defense capabilities. The Russian economy is smaller than the Texas economy. We cannot allow China to match and surpass the US”, he continues.
- Revitalize the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. “Including making Europeans pay their fair share. It's time to raise the spending bar to 3% of the gross domestic product of member countries”, he writes.
- Create a $500 billion Lend-Lease program for Ukraine.
— Instead of burdening American taxpayers with new bills, let Ukraine borrow as much as it needs to buy American weapons to defeat Russia. This is how we helped Great Britain in World War II until Pearl Harbor. This way we can send a clear signal to Putin that he will never win — writes Pompeo.
- Remove all restrictions on the type of weapons that Ukraine can receive and use. This, the American politician is convinced, will restore the position of strength, and Putin will understand that the war must end. He will face increasing costs and no chance of further benefit”.
According to Pompeo, such steps will allow Trump to determine the terms of a deal within the framework of which “the war immediately ends”.
— Ukraine is building up a significant defense force to ensure that Russia never attacks again. No one recognizes Russia's occupation and claimed annexation of any Ukrainian territory, any more than we recognized the Soviet incorporation of the Baltics or East Germany until 1974. Crimea is demilitarized. Ukraine is being rebuilt with reparations from Russia's frozen central bank reserves, not with American taxpayer dollars, — he continues.
The former CIA chief also believes that Ukraine should join NATO as soon as possible so that “all European allies would take on the burden of its defense”.
— NATO should create a $100 billion fund to arm Ukraine, with the US share not exceeding 20%, as is the case with other common budgets of the alliance. The European Union should quickly accept Ukraine into its ranks and help it modernize and develop its economy, — he believes.
At the same time, if Russia fulfills these conditions, the West will gradually lift sanctions, the politician continues. They will be lifted entirely once Ukraine joins NATO and the EU, Pompeo believes.
— It is these steps, not the Biden administration's half-measures, that will end the war, establish a lasting peace, ensure that Europe bears the burden of maintaining it, and restore freedom and security to the continent. To those who doubt: The last thing Trump wants in a second term is a foreign policy failure that distracts from his domestic agenda and makes Biden's botched Afghan withdrawal look like a success by comparison, — he sums up.
Recall that recently the current US President Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race, giving way to his Vice President Kamala Harris. The media have already voiced what Harris's policy towards Ukraine might look like if she defeats Donald Trump in the election.
