NYT: Vance ordered to keep Kellogg 'as far away from Russians as possible' over support for Ukraine

Vice President of the United States J.D. Vance ordered his advisers to keep the US special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg "as far away from the Russians as possible". This is stated in the article of the newspaper The New York Times the book is based on interviews with over three hundred officials and diplomats and is dedicated to the U.S.-Ukraine partnership.

The article says that Kellogg had clear ideas about the Russians and Russia's war against Ukraine, as well as the belief that if the US President Donald Trump does not manage the negotiations well, it will be a disaster for America, for Europe, and for his legacy.

Kellogg's attitude toward Russia was formed at the height of the Cold War. While serving in the U.S. Special Forces, he led the Green Light Group, soldiers trained to land behind Soviet lines with tactical nuclear weapons strapped between their legs.

He also suspected that the Russians had once tried to kill him. In 2000, as a military officer at the Pentagon, he had just left an event at the Russian Embassy when he felt a sharp pain in his right elbow. Later, while having dinner with friends, his wife noticed a swelling. The next day, he was rushed to the hospital, where doctors almost had to amputate his arm to prevent the spread of a staph infection.

Media reports say that as the new administration was being formed, Kellogg tried in vain to get the position of defense minister or national security adviser. But at the end of November, he traveled to Mar-a-Lago to put forward his candidacy for another position – special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. This time, Trump agreed.

Kellogg's appointment almost immediately sparked the ideological struggle that would accompany the administration's handling of the war. For some of Vance's allies, Kellogg, then 80 years old, was a relic of the Cold War. They suspected that the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin would never cooperate with him. Moreover, in their view, the support offered by Kellogg would only prolong the fighting.

The article says that Kellogg was planning a "familiarization tour" of several European capitals. His daughter, Megan Mobbs, who ran a charity organization to help Ukraine and Afghanistan, found a donor to pay for airfare and hotel expenses.

According to the newspaper, some Trump aides were suspicious of the charity, its founders, and Kellogg's daughter. They saw them as ardent defenders of Ukraine, openly hostile to Putin and Trump. They were also worried that a high-profile trip by an outspoken Putin critic might scare the Russians. Trump's chief of staff vetoed the trip, and Vance took steps to limit his authority.

The vice president told his aides that Kellogg could talk to Ukrainians and Europeans, but urged them to keep him "as far away from the Russians as possible."

As a result, the United States was represented in the negotiations with the Russians by a special envoy to the Middle East, a friend of Trump's Steve Witkoff.

• On November 19, Reuters wrote that Kellogg to step down from his post in January 2026. The special envoy of the president is a temporary position, and to stay in it for more than a year, the candidate must be approved by the Senate.