Simi Valley, California: US President Donald Trump’s outgoing Special Envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, stated that a deal to end the war in Ukraine is “really close,” though the final steps remain the hardest.
Speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum, Kellogg, who is due to step down in January, characterized the diplomatic efforts as being in “the last 10 metres.”
Two Final Hurdles:
Kellogg identified two main outstanding issues that must be resolved for a peace agreement to be finalized:
- Territory/Donbas: The future status of the Donbas region, which comprises the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Fighting between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops has occurred in this area since 2014, preceding the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
- Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant: The future of Europe’s largest nuclear facility, which is currently under Russian control.
“If we get those two issues settled, I think the rest of the things will work out fairly well,” Kellogg said, adding, “We’re almost there.”
Scale of the Conflict
Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general, underscored the horrific scale of the war, calling the death and injury rate “unprecedented in terms of a regional war.” He estimated that the conflict has resulted in more than 2 million combined casualties (dead and wounded) for Russia and Ukraine since its start, although neither nation provides credible public estimates of its losses.
The Ukraine war is the deadliest European conflict since World War Two and has triggered the deepest confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cold War.