After his whirlwind two-day visit to Ukraine, President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Russia and Ukraine retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg is within striking distance of sealing a rare-minerals agreement with the country under attack by Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.
‘Minerals deal nearly done,’ a well-placed source told Fox News.
The Ukrainian side made suggestions to the agreement text and sent it back to the American side, another source involved in the talks told Fox News.
Trump is seeking the rights to access Ukraine’s natural resources in exchange for the United States having provided billions of dollars in support for the Eastern European country against Russia’s invasion. Trump said on Friday that the mineral deal is ‘pretty close.’
The White House stresses that the deal would not be a guarantee of future aid for the war with Russia.
Ukraine has been engulfed in an existential war. Ukraine’s efforts to counter Russia’s occupation are viewed as a test case for free democratic nations to preserve the rule-based global order.
Kellogg visited wounded Ukrainian troops and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whom he termed a ‘courageous leader.’ Trump, on the other hand, lashed out earlier this week at Zelenskyy, blasting him as ‘A Dictator without Elections.’
Trump walked back his comment on Friday that Russia did not invade Ukraine. He told Fox News Radio that Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine.
Rebekah Koffler, a former Defence Intelligence Agency officer, told Fox News Digital ‘The outcome of Trump’s play for the rare earth minerals is uncertain now, as the situation on the battlefield is by all means favouring Russia and on the diplomatic front, there are too many moving parts. It is the battle of the wills between the master of manipulation Putin and the master of the Art of the Deal, President Trump. And Zelenskyy is caught in the middle, just trying to survive, figuratively and literally.’
Koffler, who is the author of Putin’s Playbook and the host of the Trump’s Playbook podcast, warned about flaws in the minerals deal. ‘The problem is that a large share of these deposits is in Donbas, Eastern Ukraine, controlled by Russia. And Putin is acutely aware of Trump’s unconventional approaches to business deals. So, the Russian armed forces are now rushing to take over the Shevchenko region, containing Europe’s largest lithium deposits.’
Russia sent military forces into Ukraine nearly three years ago on February 24, 2022, to illegally absorb the independent nation into Russian territory. Russian forces have committed war crimes against Ukrainian citizens, according to UN experts.
Kellogg visited wounded Ukrainian troops at the Irpin Military Hospital. The New York Post’s Caitlin Doornbas accompanied Kellogg on his tour. She reported that Kellogg and Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget A. Brink had visited the hospital on Friday ‘where Ukrainian troops with leg and arm amputations were receiving treatments and getting outfitted with prosthetics.’
The New York Post reported that Kellogg said ‘The biggest reason I wanted to come here was President Trump has said he wants to stop the killing, and you’ve got to go to the place where you see what killing looks like — what death looks like — and see young men and women who have been wounded and combat. As a soldier, you owe them that respect. As a leader, you owe that respect. And that’s one of the reasons I wanted to come here to do that, and this gives me an opportunity to see them.’
According to the Post, ‘Kellogg visited roughly 20 troops, sitting with each one and having individual discussions. One, named Andrii, had lost both legs, an eye, his hearing and suffered a traumatic brain injury.’
A Ukrainian soldier named Denis, according to the Post, asked Kellogg, ‘In your opinion, can we trust Russia? That they will negotiate?’
Kellogg responded ‘You almost have to look back in history, and you have to have an ability to negotiate. All wars end through negotiation, the ultimate victory on the battlefield ends with diplomacy, and today’s world is no different.’
The retired General continued, ‘I think a better question would be: Can you trust the people that you are with to make sure that they’re with you? It’s sort of like you ask a deeper question: Are you with us? And the answer is, yes, we are.’
Kellogg said, ‘I think the nations of the world recognize aggression. Sometimes diplomacy for a soldier is messy, but what the soldier does is he gives time for the politicians and the diplomats to come to a conclusion, and that’s the reason why I make that comment that Ukraine owes you — the world owes you — because you basically sacrifice to allow diplomats to find . . . a good conclusion — a conclusion you fought for. We, in that position, we owe you that. We need to make sure that we end this right.’
The death toll of the Ukraine-Russia war is stomach-turning. According to the Wall Street Journal, the number of dead and wounded—based on estimates in September — is nearly one million.
The wounded Ukrainian soldier, Denis, told Kellogg that Ukraine must have ‘a strong army,’ because he worried that after negotiations, it could be ‘five, maximum 10 years of peace, and then it could get back to the next phase of war,’ reported the Post.
Kellogg answered, ‘Well, I think the intent is there’ll be no next war.’
Kellogg also the visited the Irpin Bridge on Friday, the scene of a powerful setback for Russian jingoism. ‘Ukrainian soldiers blew up the bridge during Russia’s initial 2022 invasion, playing a key role in stopping Moscow’s advance toward Kyiv,’ wrote the Post.
Kellogg told the Post at the bridge, ‘I know how soldiers fight for freedom and the people fight for people. I know what I mean. Anybody who fought for freedom understands what they did. [Coming here] was just a chance to see one of the places that they fought and give them the respect that they deserve — their soldiers — and that’s why I wanted to come out to do it. That seems one of the things I can do, is just pass on my respects.
Kellogg added, ‘I know how soldiers fight for freedom, I know what that means. Anybody who fought for freedom understands what they did. [Coming here] was just a chance to see one of the places that they fought and give them the respect that they deserve — their soldiers.
The retired General paid tribute at the historic site to the soldiers who fought against Russian imperialism.
He noted that ‘One thing that you can never really understand until you see it is the intangible heart [of soldiers] and what they showed here was heart. And that’s something you can’t measure. And that’s what really saved Ukraine. It wasn’t necessarily the weapons, it wasn’t necessarily the fact that the world was against Russia’s invasion — it was the fact that soldiers decided to fight for their country.’
Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin, NaNa Sajaia and Brie Stimson contributed to this report.