A telephone call between three specific interlocutors: Volodymyr Zelensky at one end of the phone, Donald Trump, fresh from re-election, and Elon Musk to the other. During the chat, which lasted about 25 minutes, the details of the peace plan that the tycoon has in mind to end the war were not discussed, but the Ukrainian president reportedly received a double reassurance: the US will continue to support Ukraine (how and how much remains to be seen) and Starlink, the company of the South African billionaire, will continue to support Kiev with its Starlink satellite network.
Musk joins Trump-Zelensky phone call
That he would have a leading role in the White House after Donald Trump's victory was unquestionable. But that Elon Musk would have even supported the president-elect even in key dossiers such as the war in Ukraine surprised many. A detail that confirms how influential the richest man in the world could be in the next administration, who while waiting to lead the new ministry for government efficiency continues to see the stocks of its companies boosted by the triumph of The Donald: Tesla is worth over 1.000 billion again.
Trump and Musk reassure Zelensky
Returning to geopolitics, the portal ukrainska pravda, taking up the American Axios, reports that the three-way interview “went well.”A reassuring exchange. It did not leave Zelensky with any sense of despair,” the portal comments.
Now we are waiting for a conversation between Trump and Vladimir Putin, which has already been said ready to answer the call and talk to the new president.
Here's Trump's Peace Plan for Ukraine
Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times have provided new details on the Trump's peace planThe first point establishes the freezing of the current status quo, with Russia keeping the lands occupied both in 2014-15 and from 2022, which together amount to approximately 20% of the Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, Donbass with Mariupol, the entire strip of territory along the Sea of Azov up to Kherson and a large part of the Zaporizhzhia region. However, the Ukrainians could cede what they have still controlled since August 6 of the Russian region of Kursk in exchange for other areas occupied by the Russians.
The creation of is also planned a demilitarized zone of approximately 1.000 km on which European (not American) troops will patrol. Finally, the allied front will promise Putin that for the next 20 years Ukraine will not join NATO.
Trump's Appointments
Trump is also working on the domestic front. The president-elect has already appointed the most important figure of what will be his team from January 20, 2025: his co-campaign manager Susie Wiles will be the first woman chief of staff of the White House, one of the five most powerful figures in Washington. “Susie is strong, intelligent, innovative and universally admired and respected. She will continue to work tirelessly to make America great again,” Trump said.
Nicknamed “Ice Baby” for her clear-headed coolness, always behind the scenes, the 67-year-old Wiles is a veteran of politics, from Reagan's campaign in 1980 to that of Ron DeSantis, with whom she broke up by returning to Trump, with whom she had already worked in 2016. According to the CNN, she agreed on the condition that she could exercise more control over who can contact the Oval Office, which in the tycoon's first presidency was a seaport. One of her skills is "creating order out of chaos," as she herself puts it: for now, therefore, she seems to be the guarantee of a more disciplined administration.
Trump, according to the Financial Times, also asked Robert Lighthizer, an anti-China hawk who advocates tariffs, to return to be the US Trade Representative while he could offer the role of Secretary of Commerce to Linda McMahon, the billionaire co-chair of the transition team and head of the Small Business Administration in the tycoon's previous presidency. The governor of North Dakota Doug Burgum, his former rival in the primaries, is in pole position as energy czar. In the royal family, however, after Ivanka's step back (her only electoral appearance on the night of her victory) and her husband Jared Kushner, her children Eric and especially Don Jr., who wants to fill the government with "people who don't think they know more than my father", therefore faithful yes men, could obtain a senior role.
