Trump may be right about Ukraine’s endgame
If they play their cards well, leaders across Europe can exert leverage on America over how to end the war.
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US President-elect Donald Trump has long insisted that ending the war is a priority.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Alec Russell
It is a millennia-old cliche of soldiering that you spend the majority of your time waiting around, interrupted by brief spasms of action. The same can be true of diplomacy. For a year now, all parties to the war in Ukraine have been awaiting the results of the US election. Donald Trump’s commanding victory has ended that limbo – and supercharged thinking about an endgame in Ukraine.
Trump has long insisted that ending the war is a priority. For all the understandable questions about the path to a deal, America’s allies are assuming this is a promise he wants to keep. In Brussels there is a growing expectation that there will be a ceasefire, if not some form of a settlement, in 2025. The challenge for Europe’s powers is how to guide the process to an acceptable end. America’s military pre-eminence gives Trump the dominant say in directing the process, but they do have leverage. They just have to use it.
