When Donald Trump announced a sweeping package of Russian sanctions and weapons for Ukraine on Monday, it caught the world by surprise.

Speaking in the Oval Office, the US president pledged to send billions of dollars of military equipment to Kyiv and threatened to impose 100 per cent tariffs on Russian trading partners if Vladimir Putin did not sign a peace deal to end the war in 50 days.

The volte face – announced in the same room where Mr Trump berated Mr Zelensky for being ungrateful just five months ago – has been chalked up to the president’s increasing frustration with the warmongering tactics of Putin.

Yet behind the scenes, Republican hawks have been working for months to steer Mr Trump towards taking a tougher stance against Moscow, three congressional sources told The Telegraph.

Central to this effort was Gen Keith Kellogg, Mr Trump’s envoy to Ukraine and Russia, who appeared to have been frozen out of negotiations in favour of Steve Witkoff, a real estate billionaire with no prior diplomatic experience.

Despite continuing to serve as a go-between with Ukraine, Gen Kellogg was sidelined from direct talks between US officials and Moscow in February.