EXCLUSIVE — Ukraine must not be forced to surrender any territory in a peace deal that has not been captured by Russian forces, according to Donald Trump’s former special envoy to the two countries.It is the clearest split between Keith Kellogg, a retired three-star general, and his former boss, who last year pushed for a deal that would cede the Eastern Donbas to Moscow even though Russian forces had failed to conquer it.Kellogg delivered his warning in a speech on Wednesday evening at Decatur House, less than a block from the White House.
“Ukraine should not be compelled to surrender any land that Russia has proven unable to take by military might,” he said at a briefing organized by the Independent Women’s Forum. “Such an outcome would not be prudence, it would be pressing. It would tell the world that borders can still be revised by weakness and by violence, that endurance can substitute for legitimacy, and that the will of free people can be discounted if an aggressor is patient.”
In 2024, Kellogg was tapped to lead Trump’s efforts to find peace in Ukraine.
Word spread that he was departing his role last November, after Trump’s friend Steve Witkoff took more responsibility for the region and the White House circulated a 28-point draft peace plan that would have seen Kyiv cede swaths of land and limit its military. The plan alarmed Washington’s European allies and triggered warnings that it amounted to a victory for Moscow.
