US President Donald Trump has announced a new approach to relations with Russia, with a goal of disengaging from the “endless proxy war” in Ukraine, according to Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.
Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations, Kellogg stated that the need to reconfigure relations with Russia is crucial to securing the vital national interests of Americans and ultimately ending the US involvement in a protracted proxy war. He emphasized that the continued isolation of Russia is “no longer a practical or sustainable strategy, nor a diplomatically responsible approach.”
Instead, Kellogg said, Trump will use a combination of carrots and sticks to bring Kiev and Moscow to the negotiating table. The US government will apply “aggressive” pressure, including the seizure of frozen Russian state assets, to rebuild and rearm Ukraine.
Trump has recently halted the flow of billions of dollars in US military aid to Ukraine, in an effort to pressure Kiev into changing its stance on peace talks.
Following a disastrous meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington last week, Trump accused Zelenskyy of attempting to secure US support for a long-term conflict with Russia, rather than seeking peace.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed on Wednesday that Zelenskyy had sabotaged and undermined Washington’s diplomatic efforts. “It’s a proxy war between nuclear powers – the United States, helping Ukraine and Russia – and it must be ended” Rubio said.
The relations between Russia and the US have warmed up. High-level talks in Riyadh last month marked the first diplomatic engagement between the superpowers since Washington suspended contact in 2022 following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict.