US Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia General Keith Kellogg in Munich, Germany, 15 February 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE / BORIS ROESSLER
Keith Kellogg, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, arrived in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Wednesday for a three-day visit, RBC Ukraine reported.
Speaking to journalists as he arrived by train from Poland, Kellogg said that he understood Ukraine’s need for security guarantees to ensure that any peace agreement struck would hold. “Part of my mission is to sit and listen … go back to the United States, talk to President Trump, Secretary Rubio, and the rest of the team, just to ensure that we get this one right,” Kellogg said.
Originally scheduled to arrive in Kyiv on Thursday, Kellogg’s earlier arrival could be in response to Ukraine’s growing fears that it is being cut out of its own peace process, after Russia and the US held a first round of negotiations in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh on Tuesday, to which neither Ukraine or Europe was invited.
Trump also appeared to blame Kyiv for the Russian invasion in a series of incendiary comments he made to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Tuesday, prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to suggest that Trump was living in a bubble of “disinformation” during a press conference on Wednesday.
The purpose of Kellogg’s visit to Ukraine was described by the US State Department as advancing Trump’s goal of ending the Russia-Ukraine war and ensuring peace through strength, RBC Ukraine continued.
Speaking to journalists ahead of the Munich Security Conference, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he had told Kellogg that he “would go to the front with him if he’s prepared” and that it was also important to him that Kellogg should be given a situation report by the military.
“I really want him to tell President Trump everything. … After that, I will be ready to discuss these steps with President Trump,” Zelensky said in comments reported by independent news outlet Ukrainska Pravda.