Russia Concession to Putin? Trump demotes special envoy
US President Donald Trump has removed his envoy for the Ukraine war from responsibility for Russia.
16.03.2025, 05:04
16.03.2025, 05:05
SDA
While US media interpreted the surprising move as a concession to Moscow, Trump and his special envoy Keith Kellogg, who will now only be responsible for Ukraine, did not want it to be seen as a demotion.
"I am pleased to announce that General Keith Kellogg has been appointed Special Envoy to Ukraine," Trump wrote on his Truth Social network. He made no mention of the fact that in November he himself had entrusted the ex-military man with the negotiations for an end to the war, which has been going on since February 2022, and thus for Russia and Ukraine.
The Kremlin had exerted pressure to remove Kellogg from the game because he was allegedly pro-Ukrainian, the US television station NBC and other media reported in recent days. Like his boss, Kellogg did not respond to the pruning of his portfolio. He simply wrote on Network X that he felt deeply honored by the president's confidence that he would end the war.
Kellogg was not involved in important talks
In fact, Kellogg was not part of the US delegation at important talks on the Ukraine conflict held in Russia and Saudi Arabia. Trump's contacts with Moscow went through his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Saturday about further steps following the recent meetings in Saudi Arabia, according to Rubio's ministry. They agreed to continue working towards normalized communication between Moscow and Washington.
Kellogg, on the other hand, will negotiate directly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selensky and the Ukrainian leadership, Trump explained. His representative has a good working relationship with the leadership in Kiev.
The retired lieutenant general served as chief of staff on the National Security Council during Trump's first term from 2017 to 2021. Kellogg has treated the Ukrainians more kindly than Trump himself or his Vice President J.D. Vance. With regard to the temporary halt in US military aid, however, he compared them to a stubborn mule that needs to be hit on the nose with a square peg. "That's how you get their attention."
Trump adopts Moscow's view of fighting in Kursk
Trump has always prided himself on his good relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Since he has been back in office, he has apparently been trying to build on this. Most recently, Trump adopted Moscow's account of the fighting in the Russian region of Kursk, claiming that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers were encircled there. The US President effectively passed the ball to Putin and publicly asked him to spare the lives of these soldiers. The Kremlin leader agreed to do so - if Ukraine ordered its soldiers to lay down their arms.
It is true that the Ukrainian army had to largely vacate the bridgehead it had defended for seven months in the Russian region of Kursk, including the district town of Sudzha. However, the Ukrainian General Staff and Russian military bloggers agree for once that no Ukrainian forces have been encircled.
President Zelensky also spoke of a "lie by Putin" on Saturday. There is no encirclement. He did not rule out the possibility that Russia could try to encircle Ukrainian units near the border on Ukrainian territory. There were indications that Russian troops wanted to advance into the northern Ukrainian region of Sumy.
Ukraine appoints negotiators for possible peace talks
Selensky followed the US diplomatic initiatives for a way out of the war and appointed a negotiating team. He appointed his influential head of the chancellery Andriy Yermak as chief negotiator. The delegation also includes Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha, Defense Minister Rustem Umyerov and Jermak's deputy Pavlo Palissa.
The four negotiators already held talks with the USA in Saudi Arabia last week. This led to the resumption of arms deliveries from the United States. Ukraine agreed to the US proposal of a 30-day ceasefire - if Moscow would also go along with it.
Russia is against an unconditional ceasefire. The Kremlin also only treats the USA as a point of contact, not the Ukrainian leadership or the European states.
Ukraine deploys long-range Neptune missile
Meanwhile, according to Zelenskyi, the Ukrainian army has successfully deployed the advanced Neptun anti-ship missile. "It is a new Ukrainian missile, a precise strike. The range is one thousand kilometers," the president wrote on Telegram.
According to Ukrainian media reports, the aforementioned strike may have been the hit on the Russian refinery in Tuapse on the Black Sea on Friday morning. According to the regional Russian authorities, the plant was still burning on Saturday evening.
The night into Sunday began with another air alert for the eastern half of Ukraine because swarms of Russian combat drones were detected. One drone set fire to a five-storey residential building in the city of Chernihiv north of Kiev, as reported by Suspilne radio. There was initially no information about casualties.
