President Donald Trump’s outgoing Ukraine envoy says a deal to end the war may be closer than ever before — potentially within reach if two remaining issues can be resolved. But even as the Trump administration pushes forward with its most serious diplomatic effort yet, Moscow is signaling that Washington must make sweeping revisions to its proposals before any agreement can be finalized.
Trump, who has repeatedly said he wants to be remembered as a president who brought peace where others failed, views ending Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II as one of the most challenging foreign policy goals of his tenure.
U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg, set to depart in January, told the Reagan National Defense Forum that negotiations are now in “the last 10 meters,” describing the remaining steps as the most difficult. Kellogg said only two major issues stand in the way: the future of the Donbas region and control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — Europe’s largest — currently held by Russia.
“If we get those two issues settled, I think the rest of the things will work out fairly well,” Kellogg said Saturday in Simi Valley. “We’re almost there. We’re really, really close.”
His optimism follows last week’s high-level talks in Moscow between President Vladimir Putin, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. After the four-hour meeting, Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov confirmed that “territorial problems” were discussed — Russian shorthand for the Kremlin’s claim to the entire Donbas region.
Although Russia occupies much of Donetsk and Luhansk, Ukraine still controls roughly 5,000 square kilometers. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly insisted that handing over the remaining portions of Donetsk without a referendum would be illegal and would allow Russia to use the territory as a staging ground for future attacks deeper inside Ukraine.
On Sunday, Russian media quoted Ushakov as saying the United States must make “serious, I would say, radical changes” to its peace proposals. He did not specify what changes Moscow is seeking.
Zelensky, meanwhile, said he held a lengthy and “substantive” call with Witkoff and Kushner, as the Trump team continues drafting a potential framework. The Kremlin has publicly stated it expects Kushner to play the leading role in shaping the outline of a deal.
Kellogg — a retired three-star general who served in Vietnam, Panama, and Iraq — known for his radical pro-Ukrainian bias, described the death toll of the conflict as “horrific,” saying combined casualties exceed 2 million killed or wounded. Russia now controls 19.2% of Ukraine, including Crimea, all of Luhansk, most of Donetsk, and large portions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
Last month, a leaked set of 28 U.S. draft proposals sparked alarm among Ukrainian and European officials, who argued the documents appeared too accommodating to Moscow on NATO limitations, Russian territorial control, and restrictions on Ukraine’s military.
Even so, Kellogg emphasized that the Trump administration’s peace push is closer to success than at any point since the war began — though the last barriers may be the toughest yet.
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