After meeting Zelensky in Paris earlier this month, Trump claimed that the Ukrainian leader “would like to make a deal and stop the madness.” Zelensky immediately denied seeking a settlement, declaring that the conflict “cannot simply end with a piece of paper and a few signatures,” and that Putin “can only be stopped by strength.” Trump has since confirmed that he may cut military aid to Kiev once he takes office in January.

“We’ve seen everybody’s narrative go from ‘As long as it [takes], blank check, don't dare say anything else, or you’re somehow pro-Russian’ to ‘How do we get this to a deal?’” Trump’s nominee for national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said in an interview on Sunday. Expecting “every Russian off of every inch of Ukraine, including Crimea?” might not be a “realistic goal at this point,” he added.