Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, President Trump’s Ukrainian and Russian envoy, says it has brought a pause in the US intelligence news that Ukrainians share “for themselves.”
It’s “like hitting a mule with two or four noses,” Kellogg said of the effects of pausing intelligence on the battlefield. “It caught their attention.”
Information shared by the US is important to help Ukraine attack Russian military targets, predicting and blocking Russian attacks.
“But that’s a pause. It’s not the end,” Kellogg told CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan in an interview with the Foreign Relations Council on Thursday. “But it’s kind of like that, well, we’re getting your attention.”
“It’s a pretty big concession to Russia and to constrain Ukraine’s ability to target and attack Russian troops,” Brennan said.
“Very frankly, they brought it to themselves,” Kellogg replied to the shoes from the audience.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe Information sharing confirmed that it was suspended on Wednesdaythe move follows a controversial visit to the White House last Friday by Ukrainian President Voldy Mirzelensky. The meeting with President Trump was supposed to peak with signing the rare earth mineral trade, but instead It ended with criticismZelensky accused Trump and Vance of the Ukrainian leader in the oval office and “not grateful” for US military aid as Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to remind the president and vice president of a previously broken treaty and vice president JD Vance.
Kellogg showed that intelligence sharing could resume, but he refused to say when. “It depends on the president of the United States,” he told Brennan.
Kellogg also said the Trump administration is willing to work with Zelensky once the mineral agreement is complete.
“If you sign the document and then sign the document you want to move on, you’re serious about it, and I think you can move forward,” Kellogg said. “When I was on Kyiv two weeks ago, I was very clear to President Zelensky. Without a signed agreement, it’s the outcome.”
Maxym Marusenko/Nurphoto via Getty Images
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is likely currently the administrative officer signing a contract with Ukraine. And next week, on Tuesday or Wednesday, Middle Eastern envoy Steve Witkov hopes to meet with Ukrainian officials in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, he told reporters Thursday.
Witkov met with Putin about the above 3 and a half hours Last month he returned to the US on peace talks in Russia, saying it “indicating where the Russians are,” Kellogg said.
“We want to do the same thing as Ukrainians,” Kellogg told Brennan.
In particular, Kellogg denied previous statements by Witkov that Istanbul’s protocol, drafted shortly after the Ukrainian invasion, could serve as the basis for a framework for peace cooperation between Ukraine and Russia.
The lower right Institute for War Studies describes Istanbul’s protocol as “completely incompatible with the current stated policies,” claiming it “is not a basis or guide post for negotiations equivalent to anything other than Russia’s prewar demands.”
The Institute noted that the draft agreement would have forced Ukraine to abandon its sovereignty, preventing it from maintaining enough troops to stop the Russian attack.
“Steve said that was the starting point. I think that’s a good word to use,” Kellogg said. “For all of us, I don’t believe it’s a fair framework, and I think we have to develop something entirely new,” he continued.
“I think Steve made the comment in a general comment. It’s not a Trump administration policy because they don’t have any policies,” he added.
At this point, Kellogg estimates that Ukrainians should receive sufficient military assistance to continue fighting until the summer.
“They have the assets they have to continue prosecuting the fight and the ability to do it,” Kellogg said.
Kellogg did not confirm that the US would back up European peacekeeping forces by providing security assurances to Ukraine as part of the peace agreement.
“That’s part of our discussion with Europeans. (a) when we talk about what looks like a backstop,” Kellogg said.
“What does that look like economically, what does the sanctions look like, what will the frozen assets be like?
Apart from ending the conflict, Kellogg also said the president is asking for a “reset” of US relations with Russia.
“The need to reset our ties with Russia to secure the important national interests of Americans and ultimately stop our entanglement in an endless proxy war is why President Trump’s approach and this war framework are different from the broader and more traditional approach we see publicly at war,” Kellogg said.
However, he acknowledged that existing sanctions against Russia need to be more proactive in enforcement in order to be more effective.
If we ranked US sanctions against Russia on a scale of 1-7, he said, “The issue is about enforcement, and we’re probably at 3.”
“I think the most important thing is enforcing sanctions, not necessarily sanctions themselves,” he added.
I contributed to this report.
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