Donald Trump has promised to end the Ukraine war as soon as he enters office next week.
A US general has warned that Trump must not enter into a deal with Putin, or he could start World War Three.
Donald Trump has promised to end the Ukraine war as soon as he enters office next week by allowing him to keep the land Russia has taken in Ukraine.
But Ben Hodges, a former US Army Europe commander, has told the Sun that this could allow Putin to come back stronger and invade again.
He warned that Putin could recklessly order the launch of missile and cyber strikes against the Nato territory to take out transport links essential for reinforcing Ukraine’s defences.
General Hodges said that this could cause other Nato powers to defend Europe against Russia, spiralling the conflict into a global war.
Former British diplomat Tim Willasey-Wilsey echoed this, comparing Trump’s hope for peace negotiations with former UK prime minister Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler in 1938.
Hoping to avoid war, Britain allowed Hitler to expand Germany’s territory unchecked and allowed Hitler to keep the land with the promise that he wouldn’t attempt further annexation.
Just six months later, Hitler broke this promise and continued to invade Czechoslovakia. World War Two began six months after this.
Willasey-Wilsey and General Hodges pointed out how the same could happen in 2025 – if Putin is allowed to keep Ukrainian territory in a peace deal.
Hodges said the West would be “naive” to think that Putin would not break any peace deal and launch another attack on Ukraine and other Nato.
Hodges explained: “I have real concerns about negotiations with Russia, number one being that they can’t be trusted.
“They’ve never lived up to an agreement and unless there is a very strict compliance and protocol in place… we should not be naive about Russia living up to whatever the agreement is.
“Nobody should be deceived that a negotiated settlement where they stop fighting but Russia keeps what they have… would mean that that’s it, that Russia will finally be happy with what they got.
“This is about their objective of destroying Ukraine as a state.”
Hodges and Willasey-Willsey warned that the despot could use Belarus and Ukraine as a launching pad for other invasions into Finland, Romania and Poland.
