The elected president of the United States, Donald Trumpannounced this Wednesday the appointment of retired lieutenant general Keith Kellogg as special envoy for Ukraine and Russia with the goal of ending the war.
Kellogg, 80, was chief of staff of the White House National Security Council During Trump’s first term (2017-2021), a few months ago he prepared a proposal to end the conflict that began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
According to Kellogg’s plan, the United States must condition the shipment of weapons to Ukraine to force him to negotiate with Russia the end of the war.
Trump highlighted in a statement that Kellogg has had “a distinguished military and business careerwhich includes performing highly sensitive national security functions.” “He was with me from the beginning! “Together we will achieve peace through strength and make America and the world safe again,” declared the Republican.
The position of special envoy for Ukraine and Russia has not existed in the Administration of outgoing president, Joe Biden. While Biden has led international support for Ukraine to confront the Russian invasion, Trump has questioned the shipment of weapons to kyiv and has said that he could reach an agreement in 24 hours to end the conflict.
Force negotiation
The Republican has not given details about how he wants to end the war, but Kellogg developed a plan that proposes conditioning the shipment of weapons to Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky agreeing to negotiate with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
The document, titled United States first, Russia and Ukraine laterwas written by Kellogg and former National Security Advisor, Fred Fleitz, published in April by the America First Policy Institute think tank and delivered to Trump.
In that report, both said the war is in a “deadlock” and argued that “future US military aid would require Ukraine to participate in peace talks with Russia.”
Ukraine fears that a plan of these characteristics would mean leaving the borders as they are on the battle front, which in practice would imply the annexation to Russia of the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russian forces.
