Washington:
An envoy of President Donald Trump said Thursday that Ukraine has itself to blame for the US suspension of war aid and compared the shock move to hitting a stubborn farm animal with a piece of wood.
Keith Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general named by Trump as special envoy on Russia and Ukraine, said President Volodymyr Zelensky had ample opportunity to sign a US mineral rights sharing deal touted as key to a still-vague post-war security plan.
“Very candidly, they brought it on themselves — the Ukrainians,” Kellogg said at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Cutting aid — vital to Ukraine’s efforts to defend against the three-year Russian invasion — was meant to be a short-sharp shock, he said.
“I think the best way I can describe it is sort of like hitting a mule with a two-by-four across the nose,” he said.
“You got their attention, and it’s very significant, obviously, because of the support that we give,” he said.
Kellogg said that the pause should be temporary until Zelensky signs the deal, although he cautioned that Trump alone would make the decision.
“The protocol is — you sign a document and once you sign a document that you want to go forward, that you’re serious about it, then I think you can move forward” on aid, he said.
Zelensky flew to Washington last week to sign an agreement demanded by Trump that in part would compensate the United States for billions of dollars in weapons sent since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
The two leaders’ meeting dramatically unraveled as Zelensky questioned how to believe any Russian promises. Trump and Vice President JD Vance responded by angrily accusing him of ingratitude.
Kellogg insisted that the Trump administration was also pressuring Russia to make a deal including through enforcement of sanctions on ships selling oil.
“It’s not so much more options,” he said of Trump’s approach to pressuring Russia. “It’s the enforcement of the options.”
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