Experts have warned that Donald Trump could put Ukrainian sovereignty at jeopardy through a peace deal mirroring Britain’s deal with Hitler in World War Two.
A report in the New York Times last week cited “several officials” saying Biden’s administration could look to return nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
This move would have serious consequences and experts think it’s unlikely.
Ukraine used to hold a third of the USSR’s nuke stockpile until 1994 when it signed the Budapest Memorandum.
Ukraine used to hold a third of the USSR’s nuke stockpile (Stock photo)
GettyThis gave the weapons away to Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union in exchange for Russia respecting its borders.
Professor Anthony Glees, a war expert, told the Daily Star that he believed the NYT report was simply “some of Biden’s officials trying to do whatever they can to shore up Ukrainian morale,” ahead of Trump’s presidency.
He warned that returning the nuclear weapons to Ukraine would be pointless, and said Putin would retaliate immediately, reducing Ukraine to “ashes.”
The professor added that the UK manufactured Storm Shadows could do the job “quickly and easily,” and explained that long-range missiles were not necessary.
The UK government has declined to reveal how many Storm Shadows have been given to Ukraine.
Trump has expressed wanting to achieve peace in the conflict.
Glees said this is similar to the Second World War when Daladier, the French PM, and Chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement with Hitler and Mussolini in 1938 to avoid war.
The agreement, which allowed Hitler to annex the part of Czechoslovakia known as the Sudetenland, has been branded a “betrayal.”
This is similar to when Daladier and Chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement with Hitler
International Churchill Society
Hitler then proceeded to invade the rest of the country in 1939.
Glees said: “We can be certain that Trump will force a peace deal on Ukraine which will, at the very least, give Putin Crimea, the four Eastern Ukrainian regions which he already holds, a promise that the Ukrainian rump state will not join NATO for 25 years at the earliest. A 'peace in our time.'”
He added that Putin would agree to this, but would not stop with just 25-30 per cent of Ukraine, continuing his invasion.
