Keith Kellogg, whom US President-elect Donald Trump appointed as his special envoy to Ukraine and Russia to resolve the conflict, has advocated tough negotiations with Russia and Ukraine to end the war.
Earlier this month, in an interview with Fox News — where he’s been a paid contributor since 2022 — Kellogg specifically noted that war will be the “biggest issue” Trump has to deal with in his second administration.
Kellogg’s ideas for how to do this are outlined in a research paper published by the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank.
In the document, published in April, Kellogg advocated “an official US policy to pursue a ceasefire and a negotiated settlement of the conflict in Ukraine.”
He suggested that Ukraine would receive further US aid only if Kiev participated in peace talks with Moscow, but also suggested that if Moscow refused to participate, Washington would then give Kiev more aid.
Co-signed by Fred Fleitz, who, like Kellogg, served as Trump’s National Security Council chief of staff during his first presidency, the document says Russia could be persuaded to negotiate if the US promises to “delay” Ukraine’s accession to NATO for an extended period of time.
The Security Architecture
He also said the negotiations should include the creation of a “long-term security architecture” for Ukraine’s defense. Months later and after Trump’s election victory, it is unclear exactly how much of this plan could be adopted by Trump himself. After all, this is what Kellogg said when he presented it to the president-elect.
Speaking to Reuters in June after presenting the plan to Trump, Kellogg said of Trump’s reaction: “I’m not saying he agreed with it or that he agreed with every word of it, but we were pleased to get the response that we got.”
Meanwhile, Kiev maintained a diplomatic stance towards Trump. Speaking to the BBC earlier this month, Ukraine’s former foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said Trump had “adopted a very smart approach” to his stance on the war by “clearly setting the goal – “I’ll fix it”– but without going into details.”
The attitude of Kiev
Kuleba said Trump would not see the negotiations as “merely transactional.” “President Trump will undoubtedly be driven by one goal, to project his power, his leadership,” he said. “And to show that he is capable of fixing problems that his predecessor failed to fix.”
After his election victory, Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who congratulated him on his victory. A source in Ukraine’s presidential office told the BBC that the “good long conversation” between Zelensky and Trump lasted “about half an hour” and that “it wasn’t really a conversation to talk about very substantive things.”
Putin’s attitude
The president-elect has also reportedly spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During the phone call, Trump urged Putin not to escalate the war in Ukraine and reminded him of “Washington’s significant military presence in Europe,” the Washington Post reported, citing multiple people familiar with the matter.
After Trump’s election victory, Putin congratulated the president-elect, saying that what Trump said “about the desire to restore relations with Russia, to help end the Ukrainian crisis, in my opinion, deserves at least attention.” .
The Kremlin also welcomed Trump’s claim that he could end the war within 24 hours, but added that it would await further political details.
The US is the largest source of military aid to Ukraine, including weapons, equipment and financial aid. Kellogg’s appointment as special envoy normally requires Senate confirmation.
After Kellogg’s plan was made public, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s interview with Sky News was also published. The Ukrainian leader, having measured Trump’s pre-election positions on Ukraine, abandoned the positions he had adopted in the previous months. He had gone so far as to say that the war would end with the liberation of Crimea and since Ukraine would have taken back all the lands that Russia has taken after its invasion. But now he is putting conditions and hard ones at that. Make free Ukraine a member of NATO.
Those who follow the war in Ukraine know why and how the Russian invasion began. When President Biden failed to convince President Putin that Ukraine would never join NATO.
So rightly Kellogg is ready for tough negotiations with both sides.
Source: www.enikos.gr
