FLASH
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Lanza, a political adviser to Trump during his 2016 and 2024 campaigns, did not mention areas of eastern Ukraine, but he said Russia's recapture of Crimea was unrealistic and "not the goal of the United States"...
An adviser and ally of President-elect Donald Trump says the next administration will focus on achieving peace in Ukraine rather than enabling the country to regain territory seized by Russia.
Bryan Lanza, a strategist who worked on Trump's last presidential campaign, told the BBC that the next administration will look to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for his version of a "realistic vision for peace".
" And if President Zelensky comes to the table and says, we can have peace only if we have Crimea, he shows us that he is not serious ," he said.
Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014. Eight years later, it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has seized territory in the east of the country.
The president-elect has repeatedly said his priority is to end the war and stop what he characterizes as a drain on US resources in the form of military aid to Ukraine.
However, he has yet to reveal how he intends to do this - and is likely to hear competing visions of Ukraine's future from his various advisers.
Mr. Lanza, a political adviser to Mr. Trump during his 2016 and 2024 campaigns, did not mention areas of eastern Ukraine, but he said that Russia's recapture of Crimea was unrealistic and "not the goal of the United States."
" When Zelensky says we will stop this fighting, only after Crimea is returned, we have news for President Zelensky: Crimea is gone ," he told the BBC's World Service weekend programme.
" And if that's your priority to get Crimea back, you're on your own ," he added.
The US has never deployed US soldiers to fight in Ukraine, nor has Kiev asked for US troops to fight on its behalf. Ukraine has only asked for US military aid to arm its soldiers.
Mr. Lanza said he had tremendous respect for the Ukrainian people, "whose hearts are made of lions." But he said the US priority was "peace and stopping the killing".
" What we're going to say to Ukraine is, you know what you see? What you see as a realistic vision for peace. It's not a vision for winning, but it's a vision for peace. And let's start having a conversation honest ," he said.
Mr Lanza was a senior adviser to Mr Trump's 2024 campaign, but left after the election. / Adapted from the BBC
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