U.S. President Donald Trump on Feb. 3 officially appointed retired General Keith Kellogg as a special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Voice of America correspondent Kateryna Lisunova reported.
"We made a lot of progress on Russia-Ukraine," Trump reportedly said after signing the decree without providing further details.
Kellogg previously served as the executive secretary and the chief of staff of the U.S. National Security Council in the first Trump administration and was a top advisor to then-U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.
He was scheduled to visit Ukraine in January after Trump's election and before the inauguration, but the trip was postponed for legal reasons.
Kellogg has praised Trump's willingness to engage with Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling former U.S. President Joe Biden's refusal to work with Putin a "biggest mistake." Trump's envoy said he believes the new U.S. president can broker a satisfactory deal for both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Kellogg told Reuters on Feb. 1 that Ukraine's presidential and parliamentary elections, suspended since the full-scale war began, "need to be done." He argued that holding elections during wartime would strengthen Ukraine's democracy.
The Trump administration is debating whether to secure a temporary ceasefire before negotiating a permanent resolution, with the election winner potentially overseeing future talks with Moscow. Kellogg also suggested using frozen Russian assets to purchase American weapons for Ukraine, as reported by Fox News on Jan. 24.
Zelensky recently emphasized the need to end the war diplomatically in 2025, suggesting that a Trump administration could accelerate the process.
Kellogg defined the "near term" end to the war as 100 days out from the inauguration and said it was his personal and professional goal to help Trump broker a solution by that point.
Olena Goncharova
