US special envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg has told his collaborators he intends to leave the government in January: Reuters reports, citing four sources. Leaving office would mean losing Kiev’s main backer in the American government.
The appointment of a special presidential envoy is temporary and, in theory, the envoy must be confirmed by the Senate to remain in office beyond 360 days. Kellogg said January, given current laws, would be a reasonable time to leave.
Among the leading experts on Ukraine who joined Trump’s entourage, Kellogg was always considered too pro-Ukrainian by Putin, so much so that the Russian president asked that he be removed from the delegation to a tête-á-tête with the US president in Alaska. Several times the target of Russian propaganda, in his talks he willingly showed himself convinced of the new US line in the conflict: the war was not only Europe’s concern and Washington certainly could not back down.
