Michael Waltz, US President Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor, has said that Ukraine could lose territory as part of the agreement to end the war in exchange for "future security guarantees, the future status of Ukraine".

Source:Waltz on air with ABC News, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The host asked Waltz about the possible outlines of an agreement to end the war, specifying whether it would include Ukraine's loss of territories "heavily populated by people from Russia".

Waltz replied that these were elements of a future agreement that had been discussed in 2022 [he did not specify, but probably meant the talks in Türkiye – ed.], "and even before then".

Quote: "This is going to be some type of territory for future security guarantees, the future status of – of Ukraine." 

Details:Waltz did not specify what these security guarantees might be, but recalled the Trump administration's position that Ukraine's accession to NATO is very unlikely to happen.

The host clarified whether this meant that Russia would get the territories in Ukraine’s east and Crimea, even though it was Russia that invaded Ukraine.

"We have to ask ourselves, is it in our national interest? Is it realistic? We’ve talked to the Europeans about this, and the Ukrainians. Are we going to drive every Russian off of every inch of Ukrainian soil, including Crimea?" he replied.

He then criticised the strategy of the previous administration, which, in his opinion, led to endless fighting and increased the risk of World War III. 

"We can talk about what’s right and wrong. And we also have to talk about the reality of the situation on the ground. And that’s what we are doing through diplomacy, through shuttle diplomacy, through proximity talks," Waltz added.  

Background: 

• This is not the first such signal from the Donald Trump administration.
• For example, earlier this week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Ukraine would have to make concessions on the territories that Russia has seized since 2014 as part of any agreement to end the war.

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