By Free Republic | Created at 2025-02-01 17:52:32 | Updated at 2025-02-01 20:46:53
2 hours ago
Exclusive: U.S. wants Ukraine to hold elections following a ceasefire, says Trump envoy
Reuters ^ | 2/1/2025 | Erin Banco and Jonathan Landay
Posted on 02/01/2025 9:51:01 AM PST by marcusmaximus
The United States wants Ukraine to hold elections, potentially by the end of the year, especially if Kyiv can agree a truce with Russia in the coming months, President Donald Trump's top Ukraine official told Reuters. Keith Kellogg, Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, said in an interview that Ukrainian presidential and parliamentary elections, suspended during the war with Russia, "need to be done".
"Most democratic nations have elections in their time of war. I think it is important they do so," Kellogg said. "I think it is good for democracy. That's the beauty of a solid democracy, you have more than one person potentially running."
-snip-
The Trump plan is still evolving and no policy decisions have been made, but Kellogg and other White House officials have discussed in recent days pushing Ukraine to agree to elections as part of an initial truce with Russia, two people with knowledge of those conversations and a former U.S. official briefed about the election proposal said.
Trump officials are also debating whether to push for an initial ceasefire before trying to broker a more permanent deal, the two people familiar with the Trump administration discussions said. If presidential elections were to take place in Ukraine, the winner could be responsible for negotiating a longer-term pact with Moscow, the people said.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: elections; keithkellogg; ukraine
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
To: All
Related:
Donald Trump’s ‘100 Day’ Ukraine Peace Plan Leaked: Report
Trump’s alleged 100-day plan to end the war in Ukraine includes conducting a phone call with Putin in late January or early February, meeting with both Putin and Zelensky in February or March, and declaring a ceasefire along the front lines by Easter, which falls on April 20 this year.
In declaring a ceasefire, Ukrainian troops would also be withdrawn from Kursk, and an International Peace Conference would commence its work to forge an agreement between Russia and Ukraine to end the war, to be mediated by other global powers. A declaration on the agreed parameters for ending the war would be released by May 9, after which Kyiv would be asked not to extend martial law or mobilize.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4293296/posts
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson
