Envoy Keith Kellogg says only two issues remain — Donbas and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant — while Moscow signals tougher conditions.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
President Donald Trump’s outgoing Ukraine envoy says a peace agreement to end the nearly four-year war is “really close,” but the Kremlin insists that Washington’s proposals require “radical changes” before any final deal can be reached.
Speaking Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg said negotiations are in “the last 10 meters,” describing the final stage of talks as the most difficult.
“We’re really, really close,” Kellogg said. “If we get those two issues settled, I think the rest of the things will work out fairly well.”
According to Kellogg, the two unresolved issues are the future status of the Donbas region — which includes Donetsk and Luhansk — and control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, currently under Russian occupation.
Kellogg, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, will step down from his post in January after serving as a key figure in Trump’s diplomatic push to end the conflict. Trump has repeatedly called his peace effort his “most important and elusive foreign policy goal,” emphasizing that he wants to be remembered as a “peacemaker.”
The remarks come days after Kremlin talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law. Following those meetings, Putin’s senior adviser Yuri Ushakov told Russian media that “territorial problems” were discussed — a reference to Russia’s claims over the entire Donbas region.
Ushakov said the United States would need to “make serious, I would say, radical changes to their papers” on Ukraine before any deal could move forward, though he did not specify what changes Moscow was demanding.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed he had a “substantive” phone call with Witkoff and Kushner on Saturday and reiterated that ceding more territory without a referendum would be illegal. Zelenskyy has warned that giving up Donetsk would allow Russia to launch future assaults deeper into Ukraine.
Kellogg said the scale of casualties in the conflict has been “horrific,” estimating that Russia and Ukraine together have suffered more than two million dead and wounded since the war began in February 2022. Neither country provides official figures on losses.
Currently, Russia controls about 19% of Ukraine, including Crimea, annexed in 2014, all of Luhansk, more than 80% of Donetsk, and major portions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
A leaked draft of 28 U.S. peace proposals last month stirred alarm in Kyiv and European capitals, with critics claiming it concedes too much to Moscow — including Russian control over a fifth of Ukrainian territory, limits on Ukraine’s military, and constraints on NATO expansion.
Trump’s envoys maintain that talks remain active and progress is ongoing, but both Washington and Moscow acknowledge that achieving a final peace framework will depend on resolving the two remaining disputes.
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