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The United States President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday named staunch loyalist and retired general Keith Kellogg as his Ukraine envoy, charged with ending the two-and-a-half-year Russian invasion.
Trump campaigned on a platform of ushering a swift end to the Ukraine war, boasting that he would quickly mediate a ceasefire deal between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
But his critics have warned that the incoming Republican will likely leverage US military aid to pressure Kyiv into an agreement that left it ceding occupied territory permanently or agreeing not to join NATO.
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“I am very pleased to nominate General Keith Kellogg to serve as Assistant to the President and Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia,” Trump said in a statement on social media.
“Keith has led a distinguished Military and Business career, including serving in highly sensitive National Security roles in my first Administration.”
A fixture on the cable news circuit, the 80-year-old national security veteran co-authored a paper earlier this year calling for Washington to leverage military aid as a means of pushing for peace talks.
Ukraine has received almost $60 billion from Washington for its armed forces since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022, but with the more isolationist Trump taking over the White House, supporters fear the spigot will run dry.
“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 cease-fire or peace agreement,” Kellogg’s research paper for the Trumpist America First Policy Institute think tank said.
“Future American military aid, however, will require Ukraine to participate in peace talks with Russia.”
Kellogg served in several positions during Trump’s first term, including as chief of staff on the White House national security council and national security advisor to then-vice president Mike Pence.
