Last week the election of Donald Trump As US president for the second time, he has sent geopolitical shockwaves as the international community waits to see what happens next for US ties abroad, particularly as Russia’s war in Ukraine continues .

Trump and managing partner turned…Vice President Elect JD Vance rallied against the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine after Russia’s 2022 invasion, and on the campaign trail, the former president said he would end the war even before taking office.

But Trump has yet to detail how he will do this.

Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance of Ohio introduces presidential candidate Donald Trump during a rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota on July 27, 2024. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

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Vance made headlines this year after suggesting that the best way to end the war was for Ukraine to hand over land it had seized from Russia and establish a demilitarized zone, a proposal Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected I definitely do.

A report published Thursday by the Wall Street Journal suggested that Vance’s controversial campaign suggestions are now being promoted by several advisers close to the president-elect.

Trump is not reported to have signed any specific steps yet. But, according to the Journal, some advisers are encouraging him to push Kiev to accept terms that would freeze the front line by creating an 800-mile-long demilitarized zone and allow Russia to keep the land it has illegally seized, which amounts to about 20. % of Ukraine.

It has also been suggested that Kiev would have to agree not to pursue NATO membership for 20 years, a stipulation that critics of the plan say bows down to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A Washington Post report on Sunday also claimed Trump spoke with Putin, where the president-elect told the Russian leader not to escalate the war. Trump’s transition team has not confirmed or denied the call.

Zelensky warned this year that appeasing Russia by forcing Ukraine to cede ground along with its NATO ambitions would only exacerbate security concerns for Washington and its European allies.

Then-President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin speak at the APEC summit in Danang, Vietnam on November 11, 2017. (REUTERS/Jorge Silva)

“If this is a plan, then America is heading for a global conflict,” Zelenskyy said. “It would imply that whoever claims control of the territory – not the rightful owner, but whoever came in a month or a week ago with a machine gun in hand – is the one in charge.”

The former head of the CIA’s Moscow post, Dan Hoffman, told Fox News Digital that officials making these suggestions must “stop treating Ukraine as if it were the aggressor state.”

“They don’t have to be forced into a deal,” he said. “The question is how you get Putin to come to the table, not Ukraine.”

“If you take things from Ukraine … you give away a lot of leverage that you think you might have,” Hoffman added.

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The security expert said the biggest leverage the US has is the ability to provide Ukraine with sophisticated weaponry and to allows Kiev to use weapons without restrictions when hitting targets inside Russia.

Former head of the CIA’s Moscow station, Dan Hoffman, says the US’s greatest leverage is the ability to provide Ukraine with sophisticated weaponry and allow Kiev to use the weaponry without restrictions on hitting targets inside Russia. (Gian Marco Benedetto/Anadolu via Getty Images/File)

In an interview in October, Kurt Volker, the US special envoy to Ukraine during the Trump administration, told Germany’s DW that he believed that upon entering the White House for the second time Trump will seek to pressure Putin to end the war, going on to say that Trump “very likely will go much further” in helping Kiev than the Biden administration.

“He was telling the Ukrainians, ‘Here’s a lend-lease package.’ You can borrow as much money as you need as long as you buy American equipment and there are no restrictions on what you do with it,” he was quoted as saying. as they say.

Volker did not respond to Fox News Digital’s questions about whether he still thinks that will be Trump’s approach.

But while some conservatives have argued that Trump could go further in helping Ukraine end the war by lifting restrictions on the use of long-range weapons, others remain skeptical given Trump’s campaign remarks that suggested it would cut off Washington’s aid flow.

Sources from the NATO Alliance, Ukraine and Republicans on Capitol Hill they expressed their concern to Fox News Digital about the uncertainty that remains surrounding Trump’s ambiguous stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine, though Trump’s history of attacking those who disagree with him has made sources hesitant to jump into aware when talking about these concerns with Fox News Digital.

A stark divide remains among congressional Republicans between those who fiercely oppose arming Ukraine as security concerns over China grow and lawmakers who argue that supporting Ukraine is vital to U.S. security because it weakens Russia, which is closely allied with Beijing.

Former President Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump Tower on September 27, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

In a statement to Fox News Digital, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul said: “I have no doubt that President Trump will restore American strength and stability on the world stage, just as he did in his first term “.

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“He lifted President Obama’s arms embargo on Ukraine, heavily sanctioned Russia — including Nord Stream 2 — increased the U.S. military presence in Europe and pushed our NATO allies to invest more in their own defense,” he added. McCall. “Under President Trump, I believe the Putin regime’s reign of terror will come to an end.”

Several conservatives in the House and Senate, who have supported U.S. aid to Ukraine, did not respond to questions from Fox News Digital about growing concern that the proposals before Trump call for more than better arming of Kiev.

Additionally, several contacts Fox News Digital spoke with said that given Trump’s unclear position on the US role in the Russia-Ukraine war and the fact that he has not yet hired his cabinet, it is too early to speculate what Washington’s policy will be in Ukraine. .

Although an official with experience in the previous Trump administration pointed to the steps Trump took while in office as a primary indicator of how the next commander-in-chief may operate when it comes to Russia.

“There are three factors to consider here: What have Trump’s policies been the last time, what has Trump said publicly, and what do we know about his overall approach to major challenges like this?” Richard Goldberg, who served on the White House National Security Council during the Trump administration and is now a senior adviser to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.

Former President Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump Tower September 27, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

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“Trump was not a Russia appeaser in his first term,” he added. “Now, he said he wants the war to end, but that’s not the same as saying it should end in a way where Ukraine remains vulnerable and Putin feels emboldened to invade another country.”

“He remained largely vague about what an end state might look like, which is by design,” he added. “Putin knows that Trump has a lot of leverage to pull, both in support of Ukraine and pressure on Moscow.”

“Trump’s best move is to hold his cards close and make Putin uneasy before any negotiations,” Goldberg said.