Trump's special envoy proposes controversial conditions for US aid to Ukraine

In its article CNN highlights that as the war in Ukraine continues to escalate, former national security advisor Keith Kellogg, now appointed as Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, has outlined a detailed peace plan. 

In a single post, the president-elect outlined what the resolution of the Ukraine war could look like, and it promises to be a significant diplomatic challenge, to say the least.

“I am very pleased to nominate General Keith Kellogg to serve as Assistant to the President and Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social channel. “Together, we will secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!”

By selecting Keith Kellogg as his special envoy to Ukraine, Donald Trump has also effectively chosen a specific, pre-planned approach for handling the most complex foreign policy issue on his agenda.

Kellogg, Trump’s 80-year-old former national security advisor, has outlined his peace plan in detail, writing for the America First Policy Institute in April.

He begins by describing the war as “an avoidable crisis that, due to the Biden Administration’s incompetent policies… has entangled America in an endless war.”

In essence, a ceasefire would freeze the frontlines, forcing both sides to the negotiating table. However, it is in the longer-term details where the plan becomes more complicated.

Kellogg spends much of his time criticizing Biden’s actions, arguing that the administration provided too little lethal aid, and did so too late. He claims that Trump’s decision to send the first lethal aid to Ukraine in 2018 demonstrated the strength needed to confront Putin, and that Trump’s more measured approach to the Kremlin leader—avoiding the demonization that Biden has employed—would allow him to broker a deal.

Kellogg argues that more weapons should have been supplied before the Russian invasion and immediately afterward to give Ukraine a better chance of victory.

However, this is where the plan—reportedly under consideration by Trump’s soon-to-be national security adviser, according to CNN—becomes less appealing to Ukraine.

Kellogg states that the US should avoid further involvement in the conflict, pointing out that America’s own stockpiles of weapons have been depleted by support for Ukraine, potentially leaving the country vulnerable in any conflict with China over Taiwan. He suggests that Ukraine’s NATO membership—a distant prospect, offered symbolically in solidarity—should be put on hold indefinitely, “in exchange for a comprehensive and verifiable peace deal with security guarantees.”

Above all, the plan advocates making “it a formal US policy to seek a ceasefire and negotiated settlement.”

The plan states that future US aid—likely provided as a loan—will be contingent on Ukraine engaging in negotiations with Russia. The US will continue to arm Ukraine as long as it can defend itself and prevent further Russian advances, both before and after any peace deal. However, this suggestion may be outdated given the rapid Russian advances in eastern Ukraine, and Kellogg himself expresses discomfort with the current high level of US aid.

Kellogg acknowledges that some of the subsequent ideas are influenced by a 2023 article by Richard Haas and Charles Kupchan.

By Naila Huseynova