According to Trump, Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general who provided him with a strategy to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, will act as special envoy for the dispute.
As his envoy to Ukraine, US President-elect Donald Trump has selected retired general Keith Kellogg, a fervent supporter and a graduate of his first administration, to put an end to Kiev’s two-and-a-half-year conflict with Russia.
“It gives me great pleasure to propose General Keith Kellogg as the President’s assistant and special envoy to Russia and Ukraine. In a statement shared on social media on Wednesday, Trump said, “Keith has led a distinguished military and business career, including serving in highly sensitive National Security roles in my first administration.”
A mainstay of the cable news circuit, Kellogg, 80, co-authored an academic study earlier this year advocating for Washington to use its military backing of Ukraine as leverage to force peace negotiations.
According to the study report for the Trumpist America First Policy Institute think tank, “The United States would continue to arm Ukraine and strengthen its defenses to ensure Russia will make no further advances and will not attack again after a ceasefire or peace agreement.”
“Future American military aid, however, will require Ukraine to participate in peace talks with Russia.” held a number of roles throughout Trump’s first term, including national security advisor to then-Vice President Mike Pence and chief of staff on Trump’s national security council.
At the Republican convention in July, Kellogg told Voice of America that Ukraine’s options were “quite clear.”
“If Ukraine doesn’t want to negotiate, fine, but then accept the fact that you can have enormous losses in your cities and accept the fact that you will have your children killed, accept the fact that you don’t have 130,000 dead, you will have 230,000–250,000,” he stated.
Biden expands funding to Ukraine
Kellogg will have to handle a conflict between the two countries that is becoming more and more unsustainable.
By drafting more troops and amending its mobilization laws to permit the conscription of soldiers as young as 18, the Biden administration has started pressuring Ukraine to rapidly expand the size of its military.
Since the war began in February 2022, the White House has pushed for more than $56 billion in security assistance for Ukraine, and it anticipates sending billions more to Kiev before Biden leaves office in a few months.
The billions that the Biden administration has invested in Ukraine have drawn criticism from Trump.
Washington has recently increased arms shipments and forgiven billions of dollars in loans to Ukraine.
In remarks that seem to imply he will pressure Ukraine to cede land currently occupied by Russia, the incoming Republican president claimed he could put an end to the conflict in a day.
