As President Donald Trump mediates discussions between Russia and Ukraine, experts are largely united in assessing the negotiation as a supremely difficult diplomatic balancing act, but opinions differ on just how to handle it.
“Consider the magnitude of this negotiation–a major nuclear power is at war with its southern neighbor. It is a war that Russia considers existential. And of course, it is likewise existential to the Ukrainians, who are enduring the bloodiest war in Europe since 1945,” Morgan Murphy, a former Trump White House official who is running for U.S. Senate in Alabama, told The Daily Wire.
“Looking at the players and scale involved, it’s fair to say that this is the toughest negotiation for any American president since the Cuban Missile Crisis,” he added.
As president, Trump is responsible for first seeing to the interests of the United States. Experts questioned by The Daily Wire agreed that the interests of the United States lie in an end to the war. But experts voiced varying opinions on the priorities that Trump should focus on in the negotiation.
The price for Russia’s aggression must be steep, according to Retired Air Force General Bruce Carlson. Likewise, the price for peace cannot unduly limit Ukraine’s ability to protect itself from the potential of future attacks.
“Putin is a tyrant who only understands one thing: power. Any peace deal must provide unmatched consequences for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” Carlson told The Daily Wire.
One of the previous frameworks of a peace deal proposed by the Trump administration included a cap on Ukraine’s military, a clause that sparked backlash from Ukraine and European officials. Carlson is sympathetic to the Ukrainian outrage.
“The only acceptable caps on Ukraine’s military size would be those based on Ukraine’s own security analysis,” said Carlson.
“Following an acceptable solution to ending this senseless war and Russia’s demonstration that it will adhere to the conditions of a peace agreement, economic sanctions on Russia would be lifted, and relations with America, Ukraine, and our NATO allies reset,” he added.
Carrie Filipetti is the executive director of the Vandenberg Coalition and an alum of the first Trump administration. She said that Russia must be penalized enough to deter future aggression, or else Europe, Ukraine, and the United States may be thrown back into another conflict soon.
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“The tenets of an ‘America First’ peace deal are clear: As America, we want to end forever wars, and that means future wars, too. The costs have to be high enough for Putin that his calculus is permanently changed to stop threatening U.S. national security interests and the sovereignty of his neighbors,” Filipetti told The Daily Wire. She also said that the penalties need to be severe enough to make China hesitate over starting a conflict over Taiwan.
“Another critical issue for any deal is that Russia must no longer be able to threaten Ukrainian churches or Ukrainian children,” added Filipetti. “President Trump has been a huge fighter for hostages around the world, and Ukrainian children are being held hostage right now in Russia. And as First Lady Melania Trump has championed, we must ensure Putin returns the tens of thousands of kidnapped Ukrainian children who are currently in so-called ‘re-education’ camps across Russia.”
Corruption in the Ukrainian government has been one of the chief hindrances to Ukraine’s war effort. Experts said the corruption should not in itself be the determining factor in the United States&#8217; decision to aid Ukraine.
“No one wants to see corruption. But war is the greatest evil in the world, and corruption is not to be unanticipated. I’m very impressed with how the Ukrainians are dealing with it,” said Carlson.
Murphy pointed out that corruption has been endemic to Ukraine for many years &#8212; long before the war began. He referenced a recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/world/europe/ukraine-corruption-zelensky.html">article</a> in The New York Times that alleged deep corruption within Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inner circle.
“The New York Times should pause to consider why so many scandals in Washington, D.C., over the past decade have some tie to Ukraine — from Burisma paying Hunter Biden $83,000 a month to the Clinton Foundation and uranium sales to Russia to the DNC working with Ukrainian embassy staff to dig dirt on Trump’s campaign manager. It all touches Ukraine,” said Murphy.

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What’s An ‘America First’ Peace Plan For Ukraine And Russia? We Asked The Experts.

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What’s An ‘America First’ Peace Plan For Ukraine And Russia? We Asked The Experts.