US President-elect Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he will nominate retired General Keith Kellogg to serve as assistant to the president and special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.
“Keith has led a distinguished Military and Business career, including serving in highly sensitive National Security roles in my first Administration. He has been with me from the beginning! Together we will make PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, America and the World, SAFE AGAIN!”, – Trump said when announcing his decision.
During the first Trump administration, Kellogg served as Chief of Staff and Executive Secretary of the National Security Council. He previously served in the military for over 35 years.
Kellogg co-authored a policy document obtained by NBC News in April that outlined how he wants to end the war in Ukraine, including making U.S. military aid to Kiev conditional on its participation in peace talks with Russia.
The paper suggested a cease-fire, Kellogg and co-author Fred Fleitz wrote: “In particular, it would mean official US policy to achieve a cease-fire and a negotiated settlement of the Ukrainian conflict. The United States would continue to arm and strengthen Ukraine. Its defense would no longer be Russian.” “Ukraine will participate in peace talks with Russia, which will require future American military assistance to ensure that it does not make any progress and will not attack again after a ceasefire or peace agreement.”
In the paper, the two authors appeared to acknowledge that it is unlikely that the war will end while Russian President Vladimir Putin is still in charge of his country.
“Ukraine would not be required to abandon its goal of regaining all of its territory, but it would agree to use diplomacy rather than force, so that would require a further diplomatic breakthrough, and probably not before Putin leaves power,” Kellogg and Fleitz wrote.
Both sides also explained that it would be difficult for Ukraine to accept a peace deal that “does not give them all of their territory back, or at least hold Russia accountable for the carnage it has committed against Ukraine so far.”
Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the president-elect had endorsed Kellogg’s policy document.
During the campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to end the war, but did not give many specifics about how he would do it. MeetEng With Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in September“We’re going to work very hard with both sides to try and resolve this issue,” Trump told reporters.
He added: “This has to end. It has to end sometime. He went through hell. His country has gone through hell.”
At an earlier campaign event in Georgia, Trump complained about US aid to Ukraine, saying: “Every time Zelensky comes to the US, he walks away with $100 billion. I think he’s the biggest salesman on earth. But we’re stuck. That war – if If I am not the president, I will discuss it.
Trump and Zelensky have a complicated relationship. July 2019 phone call led to Trump’s first impeachment between the two leaders. Trump was accused Suspended aid to Ukraine to pressure Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. He denied wrongdoing and was later acquitted in the Republican-led Senate.
Vice President-elect JD Vance has also spoken out against Ukraine aid, as has Robert Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services.
“I know what Donald Trump was thinking at that meeting. He thought, I want to turn this guy around and grab him by the legs and shake all the money out of his pocket and hope it gets to $208 billion… That’s what the Democrats gave him and we’ve got to bring it. money home,” Kennedy said at a Trump rally in September.
In an interview with NBC News’ Meet the Press, Vance also expressed his support for peace talks. “I think that if we ever want to end the war in Ukraine, in principle, at some level, we will have to go to some kind of negotiations between Ukraine, Russia, our NATO allies in Europe. “he said.
Vance He criticized the US aid to Ukraine for a long timein an article he wrote earlier this year, “Frankly, there is no good reason why US aid is needed. Europe consists of many large countries with productive economies.
And he he said on the podcast Before Russia invades Ukraine in February 2022, “I don’t care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other.”