The US president-elect could make unexpected and bold moves to end the hostilities, Keith Kellogg says
US President-elect Donald Trump could solve the conflict between Moscow and Kiev “within the next few months,” retired US Army General Keith Kellogg, slated to become a special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, has suggested.
Speaking to Fox News on Friday, Kellogg did not rule out the idea that Trump could potentially invite both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky to his presidential inauguration.
“President Trump plays three-level chess, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he did something like that. Could he do it? Of course, he could do it. He could make such a bold move,” Kellogg said, adding that he really believes the Ukraine conflict will be solved “within the next few months” because Trump is “the only person” who can and will do it.
Nothing should be put “beyond the realm of possible” at the moment, Kellogg said, adding that “he wouldn’t be surprised” by any unexpected moves made by the next US president.
During his election campaign, Trump repeatedly pledged to end the conflict between Moscow and Kiev literally overnight, yet he has never provided any precise details on how exactly he plans to achieve such a result.
Earlier this week, he said that resolving the Ukrainian crisis and the hostility in the Middle East were among his “big priorities.” He suggested, however, that achieving the latter was “less difficult” than the former.
Moscow has previously expressed skepticism about Trump’s repeated pledges to somehow settle the Ukrainian conflict, dismissing his promises as campaign talk. Shortly after he secured the election win, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the promises of resolving the conflict overnight were clearly “an exaggeration of sorts.”
“If the new [US] administration seeks peace rather than a continuation of the conflict, it will be better than the previous one,” Peskov said at the time.
