"Putin doesn't want negotiations or an end to the war," says Kellogg
There will be no quick end to the war in Ukraine, as Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has no intention of ending it.
Kellogg said that last year, on Ukraine’s Independence Day, he expected the war to end within a year, but that prediction did not come true.
“The problem with this war is that Putin simply doesn’t want to end it. He’s had countless opportunities and ‘conventions,’ as we say, to stop and freeze the conflict,” the diplomat noted.
According to him, Ukraine has demonstrated exceptionally strong resistance to Russian aggression. At the same time, Kellogg believes that Putin may seek to gain control not only over the Luhansk region but also over the Odesa and Zaporizhzhia regions. He noted that Russia is already occupying Crimea.
“I have always emphasized that if he wants this, he will have to fight for it. No one will give it to him for free,” Kellogg added.
Trump’s former special envoy also drew an analogy with World War II, calling it one of the things that worries him the most.
“I’ve always been troubled by the analogy with World War II, when Adolf Hitler told the British that all he wanted was the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. And the British replied: ‘But we have peace now.’ How wrong they were!” the diplomat said.
Kellogg emphasized that he does not trust Putin and does not believe the Russian president will stop after seizing part of Ukraine’s territory.
In his view, on the contrary, Russia may continue its attempts to advance further.
When asked about a possible timeline for ending the war, Kellogg stated that he could not give a specific date.
“To answer your question directly, I don’t know. After all, Putin must realize that he cannot win this war. He simply cannot. This must be ingrained in his mind,” he explained.
According to the diplomat, the longer the war lasts, the more time it will take for the Kremlin to realize that victory is impossible.
Kellogg also emphasized that European countries have risen to the challenge and continue to support Ukraine—and, he said, they are doing so not only for the sake of the West, but for the sake of the entire world.
This was stated by former U.S. Presidential Special Envoy Keith Kellogg in an interview with journalist Natalia Moseychuk.
The Kremlin stated that CIA Director John Retcliffe had arrived in Moscow for talks, but did not disclose the specific purpose of his visit. According to U.S. media reports, Ratcliffe may have come to warn Vladimir Putin about the consequences of a possible escalation against Europe and NATO.
Earlier, a U.S. Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster III military transport aircraft—which, according to Axios, had brought CIA Director John Ratcliffe to Moscow—departed from the Russian capital.
Putin changed his schedule due to the possible visit by the CIA director.
