President Donald Trump is prepared to “really increase” U.S. sanctions for Russia in order to end the war in Ukraine, according to retired General Keith Kellogg.
Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, made the comment during an interview with The New York Post published on Thursday.
Newsweek contacted the Kremlin via email on Friday evening for comment.
Why It Matters
Trump’s return to the White House has amplified speculation about negotiations to end the war started by Russian President Vladimir Putin in February 2022.
On January 24, Putin told reporters that Moscow is ready for talks with Trump on ending the war. However, he added that any peace deal with Kyiv would be invalid because of a decree by Zelensky.
On the left of this split image, President Donald Trump speaks during the National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC, on February 6, 2025. On the right, Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures…
On the left of this split image, President Donald Trump speaks during the National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC, on February 6, 2025. On the right, Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures during Russian-Iranian meeting at the Grand Kremlin Palace, January 17, 2025, in Moscow, Russia.
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Photos by TING SHEN/AFP/Getty Images
Moscow has repeatedly said Zelensky is an illegitimate leader stemming from the martial law he declared due to the war, which banned presidential, parliamentary and local elections. Before the decree, his five-year term was set to expire in May 2024.
On Tuesday, Zelensky said during an interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored that he is ready to sit at the negotiating table with Putin. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded the following day by calling Zelensky’s comments “empty words.”
What To Know
Kellogg told The New York Post that Trump recently gathered his team of national security advisers and cabinet members to discuss how the U.S. could help bring peace to Ukraine.
“Solving the Russia-Ukraine war is really all hands on deck for the entire administration, so a whole-of-government approach,” Kellogg said. “We got the national security team talking about it—the president, vice president, national security adviser, secretaries of State [and] Treasury, National Security Council, working all together.”
While noting that Russia has a history of engaging in wars of attrition, the retired general said “so the pressure just can’t be military. You have to put economic pressure, you have to put diplomatic pressure, some type of military pressures and levers that you’re going to use underneath those to make sure [this goes] where we want it to go.”
According to Kellogg, the enforcement of sanctions on Russia is currently at “only about a 3” out of 10 but could be ramped up.
“You could really increase the sanctions—especially the latest sanctions [on oil production and exports],” he said.
What People Are Saying
Retired General Keith Kellogg, the Trump administration’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, told The New York Post: “…If there’s anybody who understands leverage, it’s President Donald J. Trump, and you can see that with what he’s recently done.”
Kira Rudik, a member of Ukraine’s Parliament, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday: “Sanctions enforcement on Russia is ‘only about a three’ on a pain scale of one to 10, says US envoy Keith Kellogg. Well, it’s high time to level up and make all the sanctions actually work.”
What Happens Next
Trump has said he will soon be speaking with his Putin.