Trump faucets Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Pence’s former safety adviser, as Ukraine warfare level man

President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday picked retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, former Vice President Mike Pence’s national security adviser, to serve as his special envoy to Ukraine and Russia as he seeks to follow through on his promise to quickly end the conflict.

During his successful presidential campaign, Mr. Trump vowed that he would bring an end to the war that has dragged on for nearly three years, raising concerns in Kyiv and in Europe that Ukraine may be forced to accept territorial losses as part of a deal. Gen. Kellogg’s appointment will likely play a critical role in how Mr. Trump approaches the conflict when he takes office.

“Keith has led a distinguished military and business career, including serving in highly sensitive national security roles in my first administration. He was with me right from the beginning,” Mr. Trump said on his Truth Social account. “Together, we will secure peace through strength and make America and the world safe again.”

The former general served as chief of staff for the White House National Security Council during Mr. Trump’s first four-year term and was a top security aide to Mr. Pence. In a statement released Wednesday, Gen. Kellogg, who is 80, said he was honored to be nominated.

“It was the privilege of my life working for President Trump, and I look forward to working tirelessly to secure peace through strength while upholding America’s interests,” he said. “I am ready with the commitment and dedication it deserves.”

Mr. Trump has criticized the Biden administration’s open-ended support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian occupiers and argued repeatedly during the campaign that Russian President Vladimir Putin wouldn’t have launched the February 2022 invasion if he had been president. The Biden administration has sped up new financial and military aid to Ukraine in recent weeks in anticipation of an expected policy shift from the incoming Trump team.

Speaking at a campaign event in North Carolina, Mr. Trump said the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared the blame for starting the war and should have “given up a little bit” to keep the war from spreading out of control.

“We continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal, Zelenskyy,” Mr. Trump said. “Any deal, even the worst deal, would have been better than what we have right now.”

Gen. Kellogg has criticized the Biden administration’s approach to the war but has taken a more hawkish attitude at times to Russia’s invasion, saying the U.S. should take a tough line with Kyiv and Moscow to force them to the bargaining table.

In an April 2024 essay for the America First Policy Institute think tank, Gen. Kellogg and co-author Fred Fleitz, who served in the National Security Council during the first Trump administration, argued that Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine was an avoidable crisis resulting from Biden administration policies that have “entangled America in an endless war.” Their proposal for resolving the crisis involved putting pressure on both sides: Ukraine would only get more American weapons if it entered peace talks, while the Kremlin would be told that any refusal to negotiate would result in increased U.S. support for Ukraine. 

Ukraine’s divisive bit for NATO membership, would be put off for consideration at a later date.

“The Biden administration’s risk-averse pattern in the armament of Ukraine, coupled with a failure in diplomacy with Russia, has prolonged the war in Ukraine, which now finds itself in a war of attrition with Russia,” they wrote. “Bringing the Russia-Ukraine war to a close will require strong, ‘America First’ leadership to deliver a peace plan and immediately end the hostilities between the two warring parties.”

Gen. Kellogg and Mr. Fleitz said Mr. Trump discouraged the Russian president from invading neighboring states because his leadership and foreign policies promoted deterrence and peace through strength.

“Putin saw in Trump a strong and decisive president who was prepared to use all tools of American power — peaceful and coercive — to defend U.S. interests. Similar to other U.S. adversaries, Putin also viewed Trump as unpredictable and unconventional,” they wrote.

The U.S. should focus on achieving a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Ukraine, Gen. Kellogg said. The West would continue to arm Ukraine and strengthen its defenses to ensure Russia is unable to make further advances into Ukrainian territory after a ceasefire takes hold and peace talks begin.

“You want to make sure that Ukrainians are not put in the position when they’re operating from weaknesses, but from strength,” Gen. Kellogg told Voice of America in July. “Nobody is ever saying that ‘Oh, we just have to make Ukrainians give up land and give it to Russia.”

While acknowledging that they are the aggressors in the conflict, Gen. Kellogg said the Russians have to be given a reason to enter into negotiations. While the Biden administration and NATO have promised that Ukraine has a place in the alliance, that might need to be temporarily put on hold in favor of a different guarantee like a bilateral security agreement.

“A defense agreement should be ratified by the Senate. What you have to do is come up with an agreement like we’ve done with Korea [and] did years ago with Taiwan,” Gen. Kellogg told VOA.