Zelenskiy confirms Kellogg’s planned visit to Ukraine
19 December 08:51
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed that Donald Trump’ s future special representative for Ukraine and Russia, General Keith Kellogg, will visit Ukraine before the inauguration of the new US president. Zelenskyy said this during a conversation with journalists in Brussels on Thursday night, Komersant ukrainskyi reports citing Yevropeiska Pravda.
The president assured that Kellogg’s visit would take place, commenting on information from Reuters sources about its possibility.
“It will take place in early January. We are waiting for Mr. Kellogg and then we will talk about what he has or meant,”
– Zelenskyy said, recalling Kellogg’s earlier ideas for ending the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Interestingly, according to Zelenskyy, General Kellogg’s visit will take place before Trump officially takes office as president of the United States, i.e., before January 20, 2025, and, accordingly, before Kellogg is officially appointed as special representative.
At the same time, the president expressed doubts about the prospects of this mission.
“To be honest, I do not believe that Putin wants the war to end,”
– Zelenskyy emphasized.
The day before, Kellogg said that Ukraine and Russia are ready to end the war, as they are both exhausted.
“Imagine a cage fight. You have two fighters, and both want to give up. You need a referee to separate them. And I think President Donald Trump can do that… And I think both sides are ready to finally get together and talk,”
– he said.
Moreover, Kellogg clarified that
“Trump has the ability to achieve an end to the war in Ukraine this year.”
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What we know about Keith Kellogg
Kellogg previously worked in the George W. Bush administration, and during Trump’s first term in office in 2017-2021, he served as chief of staff to the White House National Security Council and national security adviser to then-Vice President Mike Pence.
Kellogg is a Vietnam War veteran and former commander of the 82nd Airborne Division.
He currently works at the America First Policy think tank, as does Trump’s nominee for CIA chief, John Ratcliffe.
What does Kellogg’s plan to end the war envision?
Kellogg’s plan to end the war stipulates that Ukraine will receive more American weapons only if it agrees to peace talks with Russia.
The United States will also warn Russia that if it refuses to negotiate, Washington will increase its support for Kyiv. The plan also proposes to freeze the contact lines at their previous positions, an idea that both sides have rejected.
Kellogg also said that for a certain period of time, instead of joining NATO, Ukraine would receive security guarantees.
In particular, the proposed plan stated that in order to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to join the peace talks, the US president and other NATO leaders should offer to “postpone Ukraine’s membership in NATO for an extended period in exchange for a comprehensive peace agreement with monitored security guarantees.”
It was assumed that the United States could offer a final peace agreement with terms that “meet the interests of the United States and Ukraine.”
“Part of that agreed end state should include provisions in which we create a long-term security architecture for Ukraine’s defense. Including this in a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine opens the door to long-term peace in the region and is a means of preventing future hostility between the two countries,” the document said.
At the same time, Kellogg acknowledged that Ukraine would have to give up its territories.
