US special envoy Keith Kellogg praised Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy as a “courageous leader” after a meeting that Kyiv said “restores hope” following a barrage of insults, groundless allegations and threats from US president Donald Trump.
Mr Kellogg held talks in Ukraine in advance of the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its pro-western neighbour on Monday, when top European Union officials are expected to visit Kyiv as they seek a response to Mr Trump’s push for a rapprochement with Russia and a swift end to the continent’s biggest war since 1945.
“A long and intense day with the senior leadership of Ukraine. Extensive and positive discussions with [Zelenskiy], the embattled and courageous leader of a nation at war,” Mr Kellogg said on Friday.
Earlier this week, Mr Zelenskiy said Mr Trump was living in a Russian “disinformation bubble” after he made the unfounded claims that Ukraine started the war and that its leader was a “dictator” with single-digit popularity ratings at home.
Mr Trump also warned Mr Zelenskiy that he “better move fast” or he “won’t have a country left” and that he should sign a deal to give the US sweeping access to Ukraine’s natural resources “or things are going to not make him too happy”.
Mr Zelenskiy said his meeting with Mr Kellogg “was one that restores hope, and we need strong agreements with the US – agreements that will truly work. I have instructed my team to work quickly and very sensibly.”
“Economy and security must always go hand in hand, and the details of these agreements matter – the better they are structured, the greater the results,” he added, reiterating Ukraine’s need for “a clear, reliable system of security guarantees – one that ensures this war never returns and that Russia never destroys lives again.”
Polish president Andrzej Duda said he urged Mr Zelenskiy on Friday to “remain committed to the course of calm and constructive co-operation” with Mr Trump.
He said Warsaw believed “there is no other way to stop the bloodshed and achieve lasting peace in Ukraine except with the support of the United States ... I have no doubt that President Trump is guided by a deep sense of responsibility for global stability and peace.”
Earlier, Polish prime minister Donald Tusk wrote on social media: “Enough talking, it’s time to act! 1. Let’s finance our aid for Ukraine from the Russian frozen assets. 2. Let’s strengthen air policing, the Baltic sentry and the EU borders with Russia. 3. Let’s swiftly adopt new fiscal rules to finance the EU security and defence. Now!”
The US and EU have long debated how to help Ukraine with about €300 billion in Russian assets frozen in the western banking system. Moscow might agree to the assets being used to fund reconstruction in Ukraine if some was spent on areas that it occupies, three sources told Reuters.
Meanwhile, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said Mr Trump could tighten or ease sanctions on Russia depending on its readiness to end the war: “The president is committed to ending this conflict very quickly,” he told Bloomberg.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio, who took part in US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia this week, said the timing of a summit between Mr Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin “will largely depend on whether we can make any progress on ending the war in Ukraine”.
Last night, Mr Trump has said Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron “haven’t done anything” to end the war in Ukraine.
The British prime minister and the French president are due to visit Mr Trump separately in Washington next week. Asked about the visits, Mr Trump said: “They didn’t do anything [to end the war]. The war’s going on, no meetings with Russia, no nothing.”
Speaking to a Fox News podcast, the US president said Mr Zelensky has “been in the meetings for three years and nothing got done.” - Additional reporting: PA
