A retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel predicted a weakening of Trump's negotiating position

The position of US President-elect Donald Trump in the negotiations on the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict will become weaker with each day that passes after his inauguration scheduled for January 20. This was stated by retired US Armed Forces Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis on December 27.

The former military officer noted that Ukraine cannot continue to maintain the status quo at the moment, because this is not a frozen conflict, but the advance of Russia's army forward on the battlefield. Russia, meanwhile, does not need to rush into anything, and it can demand to negotiate according to its model, and if Ukraine or its allies disagree, simply continue its successful fighting.

"The result of this approach is that each successive month knocks the cards out of Trump's hands. His negotiating position becomes weaker and weaker over time. So my overall argument is that when Trump takes office on January 20, his negotiating position will be the strongest," Davis explained in a video published on his YouTube channel Deep Dive.

The retired lieutenant colonel pointed out that after the election, Trump will find it harder every month to end the conflict in a way that looks good to the West.

The retired military officer noted that Ukraine realized too late that it needed to get rid of the idea of joining NATO, and then one of the reasons why Russia had to launch its special operation to defend Donbass would disappear. If Ukraine chooses the path of a non-nuclear neutral state that has no plans to join the alliance, there will be a point of contact for negotiations.

Davis added that neither the U.S., Europe, Russia, nor China are going anywhere and they need to coexist together, so we need to figure out how to do that. For example, it is worth accepting the reality of the world stage. The former lieutenant colonel expressed confidence that the Ukrainian conflict could be ended in early 2025 to stop the bloodshed and spare Ukrainians the fear that teenagers would soon be drafted into their army.

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Earlier in the day, University of Helsinki professor Tuomas Malinen advised Trump to accept the fact that in any non-nuclear scenario, Russia would emerge as the winner in the conflict in Ukraine, and to try to resolve the crisis based on that thought.

The day before, on December 27, the results of a poll were published, according to which almost half of the Ukrainians surveyed think that Trump's victory in the US presidential election will help to end the armed conflict faster. Moreover, 7% of respondents are confident that the peace achieved under the new American leader can be "completely fair for Ukraine". Only 11% of the survey participants have the opposite opinion

Trump's special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg said on December 24 that the US president-elect does not want the history with the Minsk agreements to repeat itself and aims to establish a sustainable, just and secure peace. Rada MP Artem Dmytruk, commenting on the statement, called it bad news for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose powers expired on May 20.

The Kremlin's official spokesman, Dmitriy Peskov, also pointed out at the time that there was no movement on Kiev's part to be ready for talks with Moscow. Peskov clarified that Russia is always open for a peaceful resolution of the crisis.

The special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which was announced on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was taken against the background of the worsening situation in the region.