Keith Kellogg, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, suggested British and French troops could adopt zones of control in the country, in an interview with The Times newspaper published yesterday.
Kellogg suggested they could have areas of responsibility west of the Dnipro River, as part of a “reassurance force,” with a demilitarized zone separating them from Russian-occupied areas in the east.
“You could almost make it look like what happened with Berlin after World War II, when you had a Russian zone, a French zone, and a British zone, a US zone,” he said, later clarifying on X that the US would not be providing troops.
Photo: REUTERS
“You’re west of the [Dnipro], which is a major obstacle,” Kellogg said, adding that the force would therefore “not be provocative at all” to Russia.
He suggested that a demilitarized zone could be implemented along the existing lines of control in eastern Ukraine, The Times said.
A retired lieutenant general and former acting national security adviser during Trump’s first term, Kellogg, 80, said Ukraine was big enough to accommodate several armies enforcing a ceasefire.
To make sure that British, French, Ukrainian and other allied forces do not exchange fire with Russian troops, a buffer zone would be needed, Kellogg said.
“You look at a map and you create, for lack of a better term, a demilitarized zone [DMZ],” he said.
“You have a ... DMZ that you can monitor, and you’ve got this... no-fire zone,” Kellogg said.
However, “now, are there going to be violations? Probably, because there always are, but your ability to monitor that is easy,” he added.
Kellogg admitted that Russian President Vladimir Putin “might not accept” the proposal.
Kellogg later clarified his position on X.
“I was speaking of a post-ceasefire resiliency force in support of Ukraine’s sovereignty. In discussions of partitioning, I was referencing areas or zones of responsibility for an allied force (without US troops). I was NOT referring to a partitioning of Ukraine,” he said.
The UK and France are spearheading talks among a 30-nation “coalition of the willing” on potentially deploying forces to Ukraine to shore up any ceasefire Trump might strike.
London and Paris describe the possible deployment as a “reassurance force” aimed at offering Ukraine some kind of security guarantee.
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
RSS