Trump’s top security pick calls for end to escalation in Ukraine

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said on Nov. 24 that escalation between Russia and Ukraine must come to a “responsible end.”

Waltz, like Trump, has expressed skepticism about ongoing U.S. military aid to Ukraine amid Russia’s full-scale war. As national security adviser, he will play a key role in Trump’s stated plan to bring about a negotiated end to the war.

“The President-elect has been very concerned about the escalation and where it’s all going. … We need to bring this to a responsible end,” Waltz said in an interview with Fox News on Nov. 24.

“We need to restore deterrence, restore peace, and get ahead of this escalation ladder, rather than responding to it.”

Waltz’s comments come as outgoing President Joe Biden looks for ways to shore up support for Ukraine ahead of Trump’s inauguration. In recent days, the Biden administration has made a series of decisions aimed at giving Kyiv leverage in future negotiations.

These steps including approving the delivery of anti-personnel mines and granting permission for Ukraine to launch U.S.-made long-range ATACMS at targets within Russia.

Waltz criticized Biden’s decision to send anti-personnel mines, comparing it to “World War I trench warfare.”

Despite this criticism, Waltz said he and his transition team were collaborating with the current administration and that he had met with current U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

“Jake Sullivan and I have had discussions, we’ve met,” Waltz said.

“For our adversaries out there that think this is a time of opportunity, that they can play one administration off the other — they are wrong.”