How Trump could carve up Ukraine: 'Peace plan' with 800-mile buffer zone marshalled by UK troops, territory swaps and no NATO membership
Donald Trump's victory in last week's US presidential election sent shockwaves across the globe - but they will likely be felt most acutely in Ukraine.
Trump has famously said that the Russia-Ukraine war would never have started had he been president and claimed he could bring the conflict to an abrupt halt - without ever revealing his plans for doing so.
Now, as leaders across Europe and Russia wait anxiously to see what direction the Trump administration might take, there are mounting concerns that Trump could push for a hasty ceasefire requiring Ukraine to cede significant portions of its territory - even as Kyiv's European partners vow to back its armed forces for 'as long as it takes'.
His vice president-elect, JD Vance, has already sketched out a possible peace framework, while Trump's son Don Jr mocked Volodymyr Zelensky with distasteful social media posts about the Ukrainian President 'losing his allowance' from Uncle Sam.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration is scrambling to bolster Ukraine's defences in its dying days before Joe hands over the keys to the White House, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken heading to Brussels this week for an emergency meeting with European allies.
With Trump's inauguration just two months away, MailOnline examines what the once-and-future president's ceasefire plan could entail and explores the myriad problems it is likely to face.
What could a Trump-negotiated deal look like?
'I can't give you those plans because if I give you those plans, I'm not going to be able to use them.'
That was Trump's response during his campaign when pressed to reveal how exactly he intended to stop the war in Ukraine, which by the time he enters office will be seven weeks shy of its third year.
Since winning last week's election, Trump has spoken with Zelensky via phone - a conversation characterised by the Ukrainian leader as 'excellent' - and claims to have spoken with Putin despite denials by the Kremlin.
But in September, the Republican's running mate and now vice president-elect JD Vance offered former US Navy Seal Shawn Ryan an outline of how peace may be brought about in Ukraine under Trump.
'What it probably looks like is something like the current line of demarcation between Russia and Ukraine becomes like a demilitarised zone, heavily fortified for the Russians don't invade again,' Vance told the former Seal on his podcast.
'Ukraine remains an independent sovereign. Russia gets the guarantee of neutrality from Ukraine.
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