Ukraine Seeks to Win Over Trump by Offering Itself Up as a Colony

Offers natural resources and auxiliary troops

Published: November 14, 2024, 7:32 am

    Ukraine has been building on its “victory plan” for the incoming Donald Trump administration, highlighting potential business deals, access to raw materials and troop deployments in an effort to sway the famously transactional US president-elect.

    Ukraine’s allies in Europe and the US, including senior Republicans, have offered advice on how to best frame proposals that incentivise close co-operation with Kyiv rather than cutting off critical aid to the country, said Ukrainian and European officials.

    The proposals stem from concerns among Ukrainian and European officials that Trump could move quickly to seal a peace deal with Russia, in effect torpedoing western support to Ukraine.

    Two of the ideas were laid out in Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s “victory plan” with Trump specifically in mind, said people involved in drawing it up. The proposals were later presented to Trump when Ukraine’s president met him in New York in September.

    One idea would replace some US troops stationed in Europe with Ukrainian forces after the war.

    The other — first devised by Republican senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, according to people involved in designing Zelenskyy’s “victory plan” — suggests sharing Ukraine’s critical natural resources with western partners.

    Graham’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Trump was “interested” in the two points, said a person briefed on the meeting.

    Separately, business leaders in Ukraine are also talking with the government about offering Trump “investment screening” powers, allowing him to essentially choose who can do business in the country.

    One person involved in the planning described the idea as “ABC — anybody but China,” which could play especially well with Trump. Ukrainian industries dependent on Chinese technology and materials, such as telecoms, according to the person involved, could switch to US suppliers and attract more western investment. The idea is in the early stages but some business leaders close to the president’s office believe it could play well with Trump.

    Zelenskyy last week said he had a “great” initial phone call with Trump following his re-election. But Kyiv and its allies fear the US could still wind down its military support after the Republican takes office in January, the officials said.

    Ukraine began devising its proposals over the summer, “to impose our narrative before Trump could impose his own”, said a person involved in the planning.
    Kyiv, long frustrated with outgoing US President Joe Biden’s hesitance in increasing military support, hopes Trump will be swayed by the points specifically designed with him in mind.
    “The level of dissatisfaction with the Biden administration was at such a level that they felt that it was time for a change and that this change to [Trump] could maybe be good,” the person said.
    Oleksandr Merezhko, chair of the foreign affairs committee in Ukraine’s parliament, described the pitch to the incoming US president as a “wise move to show that Ukraine is not a burden for the west”.
    “Trump wants to be a winner, not a loser. To become a winner, he needs to show Putin his place,” Merezhko added.
    But Zelenskyy would also need to show his willingness to attend peace talks with Russia, said Alyona Getmanchuk, director of Kyiv-based think-tank New Europe Center. She said the Ukrainian leader was “limited” by his country’s national interests and “the expectation of Ukrainian society”.
    Zelenskyy, she added, “could offer Trump the chance to be the greatest peacekeeper of all time”.
    Kyiv is also looking to appease the Trump camp by replacing its ambassador to Washington, Oksana Markarova, said people with knowledge of the situation.
    Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson demanded Makarova’s sacking after she organised a visit for Zelenskyy to a US ammunition plant in September that was attended only by Democrats. Dmytro Kuleba, the former foreign minister, was offered the position but declined, the people said. Kuleba, the embassy in Washington and the foreign ministry in Kyiv did not comment.
    Source: Financial Times

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    Christopher Miller

    marko@freewestmedia.com

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