Donald Trump and his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia seem not to be on the same page—or even reading the same book—when it comes to geopolitics.
Keith Kellogg hailed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as an “embattled and courageous leader” after the two met on Thursday.
Earlier in the week, Trump had skewered Zelensky as a “Dictator without Elections” who has done a “terrible job” handling the war with Russia. The American also falsely said Zelensky had “started” the conflict.
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In a post Friday on X, Kellogg—a former lieutenant general and Trump’s acting national security advisor—seemed to break ranks with the MAGA faithful and his boss, who have continued to slam Zelensky.
“A long and intense day with the senior leadership of Ukraine,” he wrote, adding that he’d had “extensive and positive discussions” with Zelensky and his national security officials.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment on the discrepancy between the two characterizations of Zelensky.
In his own X post, Zelensky also spoke positively of his conversations with Kellogg.
“My meeting with General Kellogg was one that restores hope, and we need strong agreements with the U.S.—agreements that will truly work,” the Ukrainian leader wrote.
“With General Kellogg, we discussed the frontline situation, the need to free all our prisoners of war held in Russia, and the necessity of a clear, reliable system of security guarantees—one that ensures this war never returns and that Russia never destroys lives again,” he added.
A news conference between Zelensky and Kellogg that had been scheduled to follow their meeting was canceled by the U.S., however, The New York Times reported.
Kellogg was previously—and conspicuously—absent from America’s conversations with Russia in Saudi Arabia. Steve Witkoff— Trump’s golfing buddy, and a special envoy to the Middle East—played a diplomatic role in that discussion.
(Zelensky was also left out of those talks.)
On Friday, Trump did seem to walk back his scathing attacks on Zelensky ever so slightly.
He said on a Fox News radio show that Russia “could have been talked out of” invading Ukraine by Joe Biden and the Ukrainian president.
“That should never have been a war, and all those dead people shouldn’t be dead, and all those cities shouldn’t be demolished right now,” Trump told host Brian Kilmeade.
At the same time, however, the U.S. has opposed calling Russia the “aggressor” in a G7 statement being drafted to mark the three-year anniversary of the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Based on senior officials from four countries involved in the process, the Times reported that the statement currently describes “a devastating war that began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
It does not, however, use the words “Russian aggression” or “aggressors,” which have appeared in past G7 statements about the conflict.
