Special envoy: US ready to tighten sanctions against Russia's oil industry

US special envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg has said that President Donald Trump is ready to intensify US sanctions on Russia to force an end to its war in Ukraine.

However, Kellogg acknowledged that both Kyiv and Moscow will need to make compromises to stop the large-scale violence in Europe’s largest country, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

He noted that current sanctions enforcement on Russia is only at a level three on a scale of one to ten in terms of economic impact. While US sanctions, such as those targeting Russia’s vital energy sector, have been significant, there is still potential to increase pressure further.

“You could really increase the sanctions — especially the latest sanctions [targeting oil production and exports,]” he said. “It’s opened the aperture way high to do something. “And if there’s anybody who understands leverage, it’s President Donald J. Trump, and you can see that with what he’s recently done [in other foreign problem-solving.]”

Trump brought together his entire confirmed team of national security advisers and cabinet members — including Vice President JD Vance and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — in the Oval Office. According to Kellogg, they discussed strategies for utilizing all aspects of national power to bring an end to the war.

“Solving the Russia-Ukraine war is really all hands on deck for the entire administration, so a whole-of-government approach,” the general said. 

“We got the national security team talking about it — the president, vice president, national security adviser, secretaries of State [and] Treasury, National Security Council, working all together.” While Kellogg emphasized that Ukraine must maintain its military pressure on Russia before negotiations, he criticized former President Biden’s approach of pledging to support Ukraine "as long as it takes, as much as it takes" without increasing pressure on other aspects of national power. “That is not a strategy, it’s a bumper sticker,” he said.

“At a very high level, I said, OK, [the Biden administration was] really not prosecuting the war or helping out Ukraine as well as they should have … getting Ukraine the necessary arms or strategy that at the right time. 

“Working with President Trump, he saw that and and he said early on. I mean, even a year ago when I was on the campaign trail with him, we talked about the demographics, the losses and the absolute scourge of the war, and I said, ‘This is World War II levels of violence,” Kellogg said, noting that’s why Trump is focused on bringing a holistic approach to ending the brutal fighting.

Although the president has suggested the possibility of a deal with Ukraine regarding access to its rare earth elements, which are crucial to US national security, Kellogg stated that the president's primary goal is to "stop the killing" first, and then move on to future negotiations afterward. “I think we have some opportunities, and fortunately, I’m working for the master deals,” Kellogg said. 

“He wrote ‘The Art of the Deal.’ I wouldn’t put anything past him.” Nevertheless, the aim is to end the violence before delving into the details of a peace settlement, as "you can’t kill your way out of this war," especially considering Russia's disregard for the heavy losses of its own soldiers. 

“For Russia, this is kind of in their DNA in military operations — basically, you’re in an attrition fight,” he said.

“If you look at history, you’d never want to get into an attrition fight with the Russians, because that’s how they fight. They’re used to it. I mean, this is a country that was willing to lose — and did — 700,000 in the Battle of Stalingrad in six months, and they didn’t blink an eye.” “And so the pressure just can’t be military. You have to put economic pressure, you have to put diplomatic pressure, some type of military pressures and levers that you’re going to use underneath those to make sure [this goes] where we want it to go,” he explained. 

Kellogg stated that the war will not end without some form of negotiation between Russia and Ukraine. Recently, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has indicated that he might be willing to surrender some territory to Russia in exchange for security guarantees, such as NATO membership or nuclear armament. “Very frankly, both sides in any negotiation have to give; that’s just the way it is in negotiations,” he said. 

“And that’s where you have to find out, ‘OK, where is this at? What’s acceptable?'” “Is it gonna be agreeable to everybody? No. Is it gonna be acceptable to everybody? No. But you try to run this balance,” he added.

After a meeting with Zelenskyy at Trump Tower in September, Trump discussed the reality of bringing Ukraine and Russia to the table, noting that “not only is it time” for a peace agreement — but that an agreement could be made “that’s good for both sides,” Kellogg said. “You have to approach that in a very pragmatic way, you know? I go back to Teddy Roosevelt and the Treaty of Portsmouth [that ended the Russo-Japanese War in 1905,]” he said. 

“The czar of Russia and the Japanese were ready to walk out the door [during negotiations] and Roosevelt basically got them together and said, ‘Both of you got to give a little’ and they did. “And what happens is you get Teddy Roosevelt the Nobel Peace Prize and the war stops. So I think when you look at that, and even more recent examples, that’s just the kind of the way it is.”

By Naila Huseynova