Washington:
President Donald Trump said Thursday that Ukraine must blame the U.S. suspension of aid and put the shocking move with a piece of wood hitting a stubborn farm animal.
Keith Kellogg, a retired lieutenant appointed by Trump as a special envoy for Russia and Ukraine, said President Volodymyr Zelensky had plenty of opportunities to sign a U.S. mineral rights sharing agreement that was said to be a key post-war persistence.
“It’s very frank that they brought it to the Ukrainians,” Kellogg said at the Diplomatic Relations Council.
He said the cuts in aid – crucial to Ukraine’s efforts to defend against the three-year Russian invasion – would have been a brief shock.
“I think the best way to describe it is kind of like hitting a two-by-quarter m-shot nose,” he said.
“You caught their attention, and it was important because of the support we gave,” he said.
Kellogg said the suspension should be temporary before Zelensky signs the deal, although he warned that Trump alone would make a decision.
“The agreement is – you signed a document and once you signed the document you want to move forward, you are serious about it and I think you can move forward.”
Zelensky flew to Washington last week to sign a deal Trump demanded to pay partially billions of dollars in US weapons since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
The meeting of the two leaders was revealed sharply when Zelensky questioned how to believe any Russian commitment. Trump and Vice President JD Vance angrily accused him of his attitude.
Kellogg insists that the Trump administration has also imposed a deal on Russia, including through enforcing sanctions on vessels selling oil.
“This is not a lot more options,” he said of Trump’s approach to putting pressure on Russia. “This is the implementation of options.”
(The story has not been edited by NDTV staff except the title and published from the joint feed.)
