Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, cancelled a planned trip to Kyiv according to Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.
An upcoming trip to Kyiv by US President-elect Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia has been cancelled.
The news was announced by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Tuesday, but did not give any reasons as to why the meeting was called off.
The planned meetings between Keith Kellogg, a highly decorated retired three-star general who’s long been Trump’s top adviser on defence issues, and Ukrainian officials are “extremely important”, Sybiha told reporters in the capital Kyiv.
“I am confident that this meeting will place in its own time” added Sybiha during a joint press conference with his visiting Icelandic counterpart. “We are in contact to clearly define the timeline for its organisation and to ensure that the meeting is as meaningful as possible.”
Trump’s fast-approaching 20 January inauguration injects another dose of uncertainty into how the almost three-year long war might unfold and whether it can end in the foreseeable future.
Ukraine relies on western, and especially US, military and financial backing to keep up its fight. Trump has criticised US President Joe Biden on numerous accounts over the billions of dollars his administration had spent on Ukraine. He’s also previously said he can end the war in 24-hours, on his first day in office, but hasn’t elaborated on how he plans to achieve that.
Ukrainian officials are eager to persuade Trump to stick with Kyiv. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has praised Trump for his “strength and determination” and noted that the American president’s unpredictable nature could actually work in Ukraine’s favour.
The war in Ukraine is draining resources of both sides, but military analysts say the conflict is less sustainable for smaller Ukraine, adding that the war’s recent trajectory has not been in favour of Kyiv.
Its undermanned army is under constant strain on the frontlines, especially in eastern areas where the Kremlin had been intensifying its shelling campaign.
But Ukrainian officials say their successful five-months long incursion into Russia’s Kursk border region have displayed Moscow’s vulnerability.
