President Trump’s envoy to Ukraine has said the country could be partitioned “almost like Berlin after World War Two” as part of a peace deal.
General Keith Kellogg, a leading figure in US efforts to end the three-year war, suggested that British and French troops could adopt zones of control in the west of the country as part of a “reassurance force”, with Russia’s army in the occupied east. Between them would be Ukrainian forces and a demilitarised zone.
Kellogg, 80, said the Anglo-French-led force west of the Dnipro river, which bisects Ukraine from north to south and runs through Kyiv, would “not be provocative at all” to Moscow. He said Ukraine was a big enough country to accommodate several armies seeking to enforce a ceasefire.
“You could almost make it look like what happened with Berlin after World War Two, when you had a Russian zone, a French zone, and a British zone, a US zone,” he said.
“You’re west of the [Dnipro], which is a major obstacle,” Kellogg said. He later clarified that America would not be providing any ground forces. He suggested that a demilitarised zone of 18 miles could be implemented along the existing lines of control in the east.
Implicit in Kellogg’s proposals is the acknowledgement that Ukraine will have to cede its eastern territories that are under Russian control at present.
Last month Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign secretary, reiterated that the Kremlin would not accept peacekeeping troops from any Nato country “under any conditions”. Ukraine, which unlike Nazi Germany in 1945 has a functioning and pro-western government, may see the comparison with postwar Berlin as tactless, especially as one of Russia’s groundless justifications for its invasion was to “de-Nazify” the country.
The remarks give one of the clearest insights into Trump’s vision for the future of Ukraine from those involved in ceasefire planning. They are also the first suggestion from a senior US official that the Dnipro river could become a demarcation line of some form within Ukraine after a ceasefire. However, it is unclear if Kellogg was speaking of ceding any further territory east of the river to Moscow.
There are clear differences between Kellogg’s proposal and the partition of Berlin and Germany after the Second World War. While Germany was forced to surrender to invading armies, Ukraine would be inviting allies to provide a “reassurance force” in the west of the country, and there is no suggestion that any further territories would be handed to Russia. While the analogy is loose, the symbolism of the language is striking only weeks away from the 80th anniversary of VE Day.
It came as Steven Witkoff, Trump’s de facto Russia envoy, travelled to Russia on Friday to discuss the ceasefire deal, shaking hands with President Putin in St Petersburg. The same day, Trump added pressure on Putin to end the war, writing on his Truth Social platform: “Russia has to get moving. Too many people ere [sic] DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war — a war that should have never happened, and wouldn’t have happened, if I were president!!!”
Steven Witkoff, the de facto US envoy to Russia, meeting President Putin in St Petersburg on Friday
GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/REUTERS
The Kremlinwarned not to expect any “breakthroughs” before what was the third meeting between Witkoff and Putin.
Kellogg acknowledged that Putin, who has in recent weeks frustrated Trump with an intransigent approach to ceasefire talks, “might not accept” the zones of control proposal. To ensure that the Anglo-French and Ukrainian forces, backed up with troops from other “coalition of the willing” nations, would not exchange fire with Russians, Kellogg said there needed to be a buffer zone established between the Ukrainian and Russian lines. “You look at a map and you create, for lack of a better term, a demilitarised zone [DMZ]. Take both sides back up 15 kilometres each, that’s 18 miles,” he said.
“And you have a … DMZ that you can monitor, and you’ve got this … no-fire zone. You can monitor that pretty easily.” However, he added: “Now, are there going to be violations? Probably, because there always are. But your ability to monitor that is easy.”
In what is likely to be viewed in Kyiv and European capitals as an attempt to bring Putin back to the negotiating table, Kellogg said the US supported fresh elections in Ukraine. Putin has long undermined President Zelensky’s credentials to lead, prompting Trump to last month say he was “really angry” at the Russian’s continued attacks on the Ukrainian leader.
Kellogg said: “I think if you get to a ceasefire, you’re going to have elections. Because now it’s almost been a year since they should have been called. They weren’t called. But I think Zelensky is open to do that once you get to a ceasefire and once you get some resolution. But that’s a call for the Ukrainian people in the Ukrainian parliament. Not ours.”
In Europe, accusations were growing that the Anglo-French coalition was failing to adequately plan for what it would do once the guns had stopped firing in Ukraine. John Healey, the defence secretary, expressed irritation at comments by Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign affairs chief and former Estonian leader, that the plans were not more advanced. She said it was unclear what the goal was for a force inside Ukraine, and whether it would be monitoring actions by Russia, keeping the peace, deterring or fighting on the ground.
President Zelensky with Sir Keir Starmer and President Macron in London on March 2
JUSTIN TALLIS/GETTY IMAGES
“Our planning is indeed, for the ‘coalition of the willing’, real, substantial, well advanced; the European Union is not part of that planning,” Healey said.
At a press conference alongside his German and Ukrainian counterparts, Healey announced that allies had pledged £18 billion in military aid, a record boost in funding to Kyiv. The figure included £350 million pledged by the UK, making up a total of £4.5 billion earmarked for Ukraine this year, which Healey said was its highest contribution to date.
John Healey, right, with his Ukrainian and German counterparts Rustem Umerov, centre, and Boris Pistorius
DURSUN AYDEMIR/GETTY IMAGES
However, in another stark illustration of Trump’s realignment of western funding for Kyiv’s war efforts, Kellogg warned Sir Keir Starmer and President Macron not to count on American support for the coalition. “Always plan for the worst case,” he said.
Asked if the coalition’s reassurance force would be effective, he suggested Trump would be pleased that Europe was more willing to stand on its own feet. He said the force, if nothing else, would send a good message to Putin.
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