European leaders are concerned that the new peace plan from US President Donald Trump's team effectively leaves Russia open to a new full-scale invasion of Ukraine after the cessation of hostilities.
Points of attention
- Europe is wary that any withdrawal of Ukrainian troops as per the plan could create opportunities for Russia to occupy new territories.
- The main focus of European countries now is to prevent the inclusion of any 'Trojan horse' in the peace agreement that would benefit Russia's strategic aims.
What's wrong with Trump's peace plan?
According to the publication's anonymous sources, the key problem is that the White House's idea of creating a demilitarized zone would give dictator Putin the opportunity to secretly deploy troops in the disputed territory.
Kyiv's allies believe that the Kremlin may later resort to hybrid attacks to undermine US security guarantees and create the prerequisites for a new invasion.
What is important to understand is that according to the Trump team's plan, Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk regions will be recognized as de facto Russian.
In addition, they intend to freeze the front line in Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, and part of these two regions will, as before, de facto belong to the Russian Federation.
European leaders are truly afraid that Russia could take advantage of any withdrawal of Ukrainian troops and occupy new territories.
According to them, the main task of European countries in the coming days and weeks is to ensure that any peace agreement does not contain a Russian "Trojan horse."
