Ukraine war latest: Putin threatens ‘all means of destruction’ if Kyiv gets nuclear weapons; Ukraine ‘withdraws over 20,000 defective mortar shells’ | World News

As you might have seen, Donald Trump has nominated the man that he wants to be his special envoy for the Russia-Ukraine war during his second presidential administration.

He’s picked retired army general Keith Kellogg, who served as the chief of staff for the US national security council during Trump’s first term.

Mr Kellogg, 80, is likely to be a critical figure in the president-elect’s plans, and could find himself at the centre of any potential peace negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv.

Trump has made ending the Russia-Ukraine war one of the centrepieces of his foreign policy promises, saying he’ll stop the war on his first day back in office without providing any details on how he plans to do it.

But Mr Kellogg has already published his plans on how to end the war online, which he did in a policy paper for pro-Trump think tank America First earlier this year.

It’s likely to form the backbone of the new Trump administration’s immediate approach to managing the war in Ukraine, with Mr Kellogg telling Fox News this week he felt the world was “right on the precipice” of World War Three.

The paper, co-authored with Fred Fleitz, says the war was an avoidable crisis that, due to the Biden administration’s “incompetent policies”, had “entangled America in an endless war”.

It says bringing an end to the war will require “strong, America First leadership” and argues against sending weapons to Ukraine, calling it “expensive virtue signalling” and not a “constructive policy to promote peace”.

Under Mr Kellogg’s plan:

• Future US military aid would be contingent on Ukraine participating in peace talks with Russia;
• To bring Putin to the table, NATO leaders should offer to put off NATO membership for Ukraine for an extended period;
• Ukraine would not be asked to relinquish the goal of regaining its territory, but it would understand a diplomatic resolution “probably will not occur before Putin leaves office”;
• Until a final peace agreement is signed that is acceptable to Ukraine, the US and its allies will pledge not to lift sanctions or normalise relations with Russia;
• Moscow could be offered some sanctions relief, in exchange for abiding by a ceasefire, a demilitarised zone, and participating in peace talks;
• Levies should be placed on Russian energy sales to use for the reconstruction of Ukraine.