The U.S. special envoy to Russia and Ukraine said Thursday the U.S. plans to significantly step up pressure on Russia through sanctions to end the war in Ukraine.
In an exclusive interview with the New York Post, Special Envoy Keith Kellogg said there is a lot of room to increase sanctions on Russia, particularly in Russia’s energy sector. He characterized sanctions enforcement on Russia as “only about a 3” on a scale of 1 to 10 on “how painful the economic pressure can be.”
Kellogg told the Post he understands that both Moscow and Kyiv will have to make concessions to end what he called the “industrial-sized” killing in the war.
In the interview, Kellogg also was critical of the approach by the administration of former President Joe Biden of “supporting Ukraine as long as it takes,” calling it “a bumper sticker, not a strategy.”
Kellogg said the Trump administration is focused on a “holistic approach” to ending the war, combining support for Ukraine with increased pressure on Russia.
Kellogg’s Chief of Staff Ludovic Hood echoed those sentiments when he told the GLOBSEC Transatlantic Forum in Washington on Thursday, “Nothing’s off the table at this stage” as far as negotiations for a peace deal.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s presidential website reported the U.S. special envoy also spoke Thursday with Ukraine’s head of the office of the president, Andriy Yermak. In a statement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said the two discussed Kellogg’s upcoming visit to Ukraine, as well as the situation on the front lines and security issues for Ukrainian civilians.
The statement said the two gave “special attention” in their conversation to the upcoming Munich Security Conference, scheduled to begin in one week.
In a separate interview with the Associated Press on Thursday, Yermak stressed the importance of “active engagement” between Ukraine and the Trump administration, particularly as any peace negotiations.
Yermak emphasized the importance of keeping the Trump White House up to date and providing accurate information about the battlefield situation. He said direct communication with U.S. partners is crucial for establishing a shared position, because it is impossible to form any peace plans without Ukraine.
Meanwhile, in the latest reports from the battlefield, Ukraine’s air force reported Friday – from its Telegram social media account – Russian attacks across multiple Ukrainian regions killed at least three civilians and injured five over the past 24 hours.
The report said Ukrainian air defenses shot down 81 of 112 Shahed combat drones and decoy drones Russia launched over nine oblasts, or regions, while 31 other drones were lost without causing damage.
From his Telegram account, Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said Russian shelling killed one person and wounded five others, and two high-rise buildings and six private houses were damaged.
The regional administration in Sumy Oblast says two people were killed when Russian shelling destroyed a two-story apartment building. The report said the victims’ bodies were found in the rubble as rescue crews cleared the area and there are fears more bodies could be found.
