Trump adviser says priority in Ukraine is ‘realistic’ peace: ‘Crimea is gone’

A senior aide to US president-elect Donald Trump said in an interview broadcast on Saturday that the new administration’s priority in Ukraine would be establishing peace and not restoring lost territory, including Crimea.

Bryan Lanza, a long-time Republican Party strategist, told the BBC that Trump’s administration would be asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for a “realistic vision for peace”.

“And if President Zelensky comes to the table and says, well we can only have peace if we have Crimea, he shows to us that he’s not serious. Crimea is gone,” he said. “And if that is your priority of getting Crimea back and having American soldiers fight to get Crimea back, you’re on your own.”

He said the priority was “peace and to stop the killing”.

“What we’re going to say to Ukraine is, you know what you see? What do you see as a realistic vision for peace? It’s not a vision for winning, but it’s a vision for peace. And let’s start having the honest conversation,” he said.

Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula in 2014 after an uprising that prompted Ukraine’s Russia-friendly president to flee. More than 2½ years after launching its full-fledged invasion, Russian forces hold just under 20 per cent of its territory.