"It's not done in one or two days": Yelchenko explains what tools Trump has to force Putin to peace

US President-elect Donald Trump has the tools to influence Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. However, in order to move to any kind of peace process, some initial concessions from Russia are needed.

If they do not, it will be "peace through force." This opinion was expressed in an interview with OBOZ.UA by former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States, former representative of Ukraine to the UN Volodymyr Yelchenko.

"First and foremost, I refer to a serious increase in the supply of weapons for Ukraine's needs. Both qualitative and quantitative. Secondly, the maximum strengthening of the sanctions regime. We have already seen the latest move by the Biden administration, which has hit Russia's shadow fleet quite hard. There are many other things," the source said.

In his opinion, in principle, it is necessary to introduce the idea of complete economic isolation of Russia, at least from the Western world. Even if the countries of the Global South do not agree to this, they will be forced to join such a regime anyway, because it is a matter of secondary sanctions from the United States.

He says that the Americans are also ready to make progress on the use of Russian assets held in both the United States and Europe. They are putting pressure on Western Europe, where there are even more funds, but the Europeans have not yet gone further than allowing the use of profits from these assets.

"These are also good numbers, but it's not all money. For example, if the Americans put pressure on Europe and it agrees to this, then we could offer Trump a very attractive scheme for Ukraine to buy American weapons with this money. And this would be a rather serious step," Yelchenko believes.

He also recalled Trump's promise to bring down oil prices. This cannot be done in one or two days, but energy experts believe that if Washington starts doing this now, Russia will feel it very much by the end of 2025 and the Russian economy will collapse.

"So all this is real, all this can be done," Yelchenko is convinced.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, Mike Waltz, the future national security adviser to the newly elected US president, assures that Trump is determined to end the war in Ukraine. He also named three key issues that, in his opinion, are necessary for this.

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