'If it's just ceasefire and polls...': Ukraine rejects Trump envoy's peace plan remarks

Donald Trump’s Ukraine envoy said Sunday that both Kyiv and Moscow would have to make concessions if they are to successfully negotiate a solution to the ongoing war. However Ukrainian president’s communications adviser dismissed Keith Kellogg’s intervention.

In a televised Foz News interview, Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general who recently returned from a visit to Ukraine, said “I think both sides will give a little bit.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “has already indicated he will soften his position on land,” said Kellogg, adding that Russian leader Vladimir Putin “is going to have to soften his positions as well.”

But the Ukrainian president’s communications adviser dismissed Kellogg’s intervention. “We haven’t seen Mr Kellogg’s full interview … But if his plan is just a ceasefire and elections, it is a failed plan – Putin won’t be intimidated by just those two things,” Dmytro Lytvyn told journalists.

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Zelenskyy long rejected any territorial concessions to Russia, whose troops control a large swath of southeastern Ukraine, but he faces pressure amid mounting battlefield losses and uncertainty about continued US support.

Russia, for its part, has sought assurances that Ukraine will never join NATO.

Trump, during his campaign for the presidency, had promised a quick end to the nearly three-year-old war, but has provided few details of how he hoped to do so.

Putin said Tuesday that his country could hold peace talks with Ukraine, but ruled out speaking directly with Zelenskyy, calling him “illegitimate” because his presidential term has expired.

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Ukraine has not held elections since the outbreak of war and ensuing institution of martial law, which Kellogg said Sunday was permitted under the Ukrainian constitution.

Zelenskyy has in turn said that Putin is “afraid” of negotiations.

Since taking office January 20, Trump has threatened tougher sanctions on Russia and claimed that Zelenskyy is ready to negotiate.