And unlike others in Trump’s MAGA circle, Kellogg welcomed President Joe Biden’s decision to approve Ukraine’s use of U.S.-supplied long-range missiles to strike targets inside Russia, saying it has given Trump “more leverage” and adding that “it gives President Trump more ability to pivot from that.”
Contrast that with the howls of protest over the missile approval from Donald Trump Jr., Mike Waltz, the president-elect’s choice to be national security adviser, and Richard Grenell, who was acting director of National Intelligence during Trump’s first term. “No one anticipated that Joe Biden would ESCALATE the war in Ukraine during the transition period. This is as if he is launching a whole new war,” Grenell posted on X. Trump’s son accused Biden of trying to spark World War III “before my father has a chance to create peace and save lives.”
In short, Kellogg is someone Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his circle can work with, and Ukraine’s leader already is nimbly adapting to the changed politics in Washington — and to shifting political dynamics in Europe — by displaying a willingness to come to the table. That’s something his American advisers have urged him to do, leaving it to Putin to be Mr. Nyet, risking Trump’s wrath.
That is exactly what Zelenskyy was doing on Friday in an interview with Britain’s Sky News. It was a master class in smart diplomatic maneuvering, what with the teasing suggestion of how to end the “hot phase of the war” with Ukraine being admitted into NATO but with the alliance’s umbrella only applying to the 80 percent of the country still controlled by Kyiv. That would leave Ukraine free later to resolve diplomatically what happens to the occupied part of the country, he suggested.
Under this formula, Russia would retain de facto control of the Donbas and Crimea but without Kyiv recognizing their annexation or officially ceding territory — which would require a change in Ukraine’s Constitution, a move that no doubt would enrage front-line soldiers and a large number of Ukrainians. One of his American advisers recently told POLITICO that he doubted Zelenskyy could survive politically if he wrote off nearly a quarter of the country.
The Sky News interview is the farthest Zelenskyy has gone in suggesting Kyiv might be ready to give up any territory, temporarily or otherwise. In an interview with Le Monde in the summer, he did hazard that the occupied territories could join Russia if they voted to do so in a referendum conducted freely and fairly. But for that to happen, the areas would have to be back in Ukrainian hands for such a vote to take place, he added.
