Keith Kellogg has accused The Occasions of misrepresenting his phrases in regards to the demilitarized zone and areas of “accountability”
US President Donald Trump’s particular envoy to Ukraine, Normal Keith Kellogg, has rejected the notion that he proposed partitioning Ukraine like post-WWII Germany, accusing The Occasions of misrepresenting his remarks a few Chilly Struggle-style post-ceasefire safety association.
Kellogg informed The Occasions in an interview printed on Friday that British and French – however not American – troops may lead a Western army power positioned west of the Dnepr River, whereas Ukrainian forces would maintain territory additional east. He additionally recommended establishing a demilitarized zone (DMZ) roughly 18 miles (30 kilometers) huge alongside the present traces of management to forestall direct clashes with Russian forces.
“You may virtually make it appear to be what occurred with Berlin after World Struggle Two, once you had a Russian zone, a French zone, and a British zone, a US zone,” stated Kellogg, a retired US Military lieutenant common, appointed by Trump to deal straight with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky.
Kellogg acknowledged that Moscow “won’t settle for” the proposed zones of management, and claimed {that a} DMZ would create situations for a “sustainable” ceasefire and would “not be provocative in any respect” to Moscow.
The British newspaper ran its story with the headline “Trump envoy: We will divide Ukraine like postwar Berlin,” prompting Kellogg to accuse the publication of taking his phrases out of context.
“The Occasions article misrepresents what I stated,” Kellogg wrote on X on Friday night. “I used to be talking of a post-ceasefire resiliency power in assist of Ukraine’s sovereignty. In discussions of partitioning, I used to be referencing areas or zones of accountability for an allied power (with out US troops). I used to be NOT referring to a partitioning of Ukraine.”
The Occasions report, nevertheless, famous that Kellogg’s concept implies that any ultimate settlement would contain Kiev relinquishing claims to territories already managed by Russia – some extent that echoes proposals just lately floated by Trump’s Russia envoy, Steve Witkoff.
Witkoff, who met Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Friday, had beforehand argued that recognizing Russian possession of Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporozhye, and Kherson was the swiftest path to halting the battle. The suggestion, reportedly voiced throughout a White Home assembly final week, has triggered inner debate throughout the Trump administration, with Kellogg allegedly pushing again towards full territorial concessions.
Kiev’s backers stay break up on a proposed “reassurance power” that would probably be deployed to Ukraine after hostilities between Kiev and Moscow finish. Following the most recent assembly of the “coalition of the prepared” – composed of some 30 predominantly EU and NATO member states – in Brussels on Thursday, solely six Western nations expressed readiness to ship troops, based on AFP.
Moscow has repeatedly warned the West towards deploying troops to Ukraine underneath any pretext, particularly objecting to forces from any NATO international locations ending up within the nation. Final month, former Russian president and deputy chair of Russia’s Safety Council, Dmitry Medvedev, stated that the potential emergence of any NATO “peacekeepers” in Ukraine would imply a warfare between the bloc and Russia.
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