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SWEDEN

Sweden wants to stop Trump's plan for peace in Ukraine
Published 26 October 2024 at 08.03
Domestic. Sweden does not intend to accept the US taking the initiative for a peace solution in Ukraine that has not been approved by the country's leader Volodymyr Zelensky. This is according to Defense Minister Pål Jonson (M), who is now flagging that Sweden can run its own race and fight on without the US.
- If Ukraine wants to continue to fight, we will continue to support them, he tells SVT.

Sweden can run over the United States and try to teach Russian President Vladimir Putin a lesson on his own if a future American administration were to try to end the war in Ukraine.

The issue has become topical since Donald Trump's vice presidential candidate JD Vance presented parts of a concrete peace plan that he and Trump will go to the polls on November 5.

According to the proposal, a demilitarized zone should be established along the current front and the occupied areas should go to Russia. Furthermore, Ukraine must receive security guarantees and Russia must in return receive guarantees that Ukraine will not be allowed to join the EU or NATO. Arms support to Ukraine must also be abolished.

The plan, which is not very different from Russia's own peace plan for Ukraine, is expected to be accepted outright in the Kremlin.

Donald Trump has promised that he will call Vladimir Putin and "end the war" within 24 hours of winning the election - before even taking office - as the next US president.

But the commitments have made the Swedish government see red. And Sweden is now opening up to continue fueling the war on its own if the US pulls out.

- We must support Ukraine as long as it takes and also its right to regain its territorial integrity, says Defense Minister Pål Jonson (M) to SVT's interview program 30 Minuter.

- If Ukraine wants to continue fighting for its territorial integrity, we will continue to support them in doing so, he says further.

He also promises that Sweden will support the Ukrainian government if, for example, it were to take Crimea back from Russia.

- Crimea belongs to Ukraine, Donbass belongs to Ukraine, says Jonson.

That Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M) and Jonson want to continue the war, Jonson explains that the NATO countries have promised the Ukrainian president continued military support and future membership in NATO.

- All allies within NATO have decided that Ukraine has the right to become an ally and that Ukraine must become an ally, Jonson told SVT.

- The bottom line is that all countries must decide their own security policy choices, including whether they will become members of the EU or NATO.

In practice, the current commitments mean that the Ukrainian regime will be allowed to continue fighting to the last man. However, the reasonableness of this plan has come to be questioned both within Ukraine and abroad as the number of dead has risen in the conflict, where losses were estimated to have passed one million people earlier last fall, according to the Wall Street Journal.

One person who welcomes Trump's concrete plans on the Ukraine issue is Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. According to him, the EU and Europe will not be able to maintain the Ukrainian resistance on their own and then the war will be over. But Pål Jonson doesn't think so.

- I wouldn't buy what Orban says outright like that. What I can state is that the EU has taken increasing responsibility also for the military support to Ukraine, and then in some areas it is very difficult to replace the USA.

According to the minister, it is mainly in the area of air defense that this is the case, while the EU countries can contribute with artillery shells, for example. And if the US pulls out, the minister believes that Sweden and other countries can continue to fight.

- We have set aside 25 billion in support over the next few years, and we have said that it is a floor but not a ceiling. And I know that there are discussions going on in other European capitals now as well that Europe must take greater responsibility not only for the reconstruction and the civilian support to Ukraine, but also for the military support. But in some sectors it is more difficult than in others.