Donald Trump has appointed 80-year-old retired US Army lieutenant general Keith Kellogg as a special envoy for Russia and Ukraine.
Keith has a distinguished military and commercial career, which includes holding key national security positions during my first administration. In a post on Truth Social, Trump stated, “He has been with me from the beginning.”
Kellogg was a national security adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence during Trump’s first term. Subsequently, he assumed the role of interim national security adviser to Trump following the resignation of Michael Flynn in 2017.
In an earlier interview with Reuters, Kellogg disclosed his strategy for ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which would involve facilitating negotiations between the two nations. Kellogg reportedly intended to inform the Ukrainians that they must come to the negotiating table, warning that US support would ‘wane’ if they refused. In the same vein, he intended to inform Vladimir Putin that he must attend the negotiating table, with the alternative being the supply of all the necessary resources for the Ukrainians to defeat him on the battlefield.
President Joe Biden’s recent approval of Ukraine’s use of US-provided longer-range missiles to strike deeper into Russia, a move that Biden had previously refused for months, was a positive development, according to Kellogg, Trump’s “dove of peace,” in an interview with Fox News in mid-November. Kellogg claimed that this development “essentially gave Trump more leverage.” This was the narrative shared by Trump and Kellogg before Russia deployed the “Oreshnik” on November 21 and other new weapons on November 27–28.
Russia May Force its own “peace” Strategy
On November 27, 2024, a senior official in Joe Biden’s administration informed the Associated Press that the Biden White House is advocating for Ukraine to rapidly expand its armed forces by recruiting additional soldiers and reducing the conscription age to 18. The official, who spoke anonymously, disclosed that the Democratic administration, which is on the way out, proposes that Ukraine reduce its conscription age from 25 years old in order to increase the number of eligible males.
Nevertheless, Ukrainian officials and analysts are skeptical about the proposal put forth by Biden’s team. On November 28, 2024, the Washington Post reported that Zelensky had approved the reduction of the conscription age to 25 this year. However, his administration is opposed to any further reductions, stating that Ukraine is at risk of a demographic crisis if an excessive number of young men become war casualties.
Litvin, Zelensky’s communications adviser, stated on X that it is illogical to observe calls for Ukraine to reduce its mobilization age in order to draft additional personnel when “we see” previously promised equipment not arriving on time. As a result of these delays, Ukraine is unable to provide the necessary weapons to its already mobilized soldiers.
On November 27, two US officials disclosed that the Biden administration is in the process of assembling an additional $725 million emergency weapons package for Ukraine. It is anticipated that the package will consist of landmines, drones, Stinger missiles, and Himars ammunition, which includes GMLRS rockets with cluster warheads. According to an official, the package could be officially disclosed to Congress as early as December 2. This is significantly larger than the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) packages that the US president has recently announced, which have varied in size from $125 million to $250 million. Estimates suggest that Biden can use between $4 billion and $5 billion in approved PDA funding before Trump’s assumption of office on January 20.
Zelensky signed Ukraine’s 2025 budget on November 28, which contains the nation’s initial tax increases during the war. Ukraine’s Finance Minister, Marchenko, expressed anticipation that the tax increases would generate an additional 141 billion hryvnias ($3.39 billion). According to Prime Minister Shmyhal, Ukraine will allocate an unprecedented amount of funds to the production and procurement of armaments, which will include the modernization of the defense industry and the acquisition of drones.
Ukrainian authorities reported that a missile strike on Kyiv on the morning of November 28, which involved 199 missiles and drones and targeted Ukraine’s western energy infrastructure, resulted in the loss of electricity for at least 1 million citizens.
The United States supplied Ukrainian missile attacks on Russian territory, prompting Russian President Vladimir Putin to initiate the strikes. At a CSTO meeting in Kazakhstan on November 28, Putin warned that Russian assaults on Ukraine could intensify and target “decision-making centers” in Kyiv.
“The Ministry of Defense and the General Staff are currently selecting targets for strikes on Ukrainian territory,” Putin said. “These may include military facilities, defense and industrial enterprises, and decision-making centers in Kyiv.”
The Washington Post asserts that Ukrainians are skeptical of Trump’s assertions that he intends to end the nearly three-year-old conflict immediately upon his inauguration, due to Putin’s menacing rhetoric and Russia’s near-nightly bombardments.
The transition from one US administration to another comes at a difficult juncture for Ukraine, as its troops are overextended in their efforts to counter Moscow’s months-long offensive along the eastern front. Western and Kyiv-based analysts have reported that Ukraine has suffered its most rapid territorial losses since 2022 as a result of Russia’s successes and Ukraine’s unexpected offensive in Russia’s Kursk region.
Zelensky stated in a Telegram post on November 28 that Putin’s current escalation is a form of pressure that is intended to ultimately compel the US president to accept Russia’s terms.