- This news is breaking: more to follow
America’s Russia-Ukraine envoy has reportedly informed allies that he is preparing ‘end of war’ options to present to President Trump in a bid to end the war.
Keith Kellogg has told US allies in recent meetings that he is drafting options to present to Trump, according to the Semafor news site.
He previously denied reports that he would be in a position to bring forward a proposal at the Munich Security Conference this week.
Donald Trump told reporters on board Air Force One on Sunday that he believed that the U.S. was making progress towards ending the war, but declined to provide details about any rumored communications with Vladimir Putin.
Trump has repeatedly said he wants to end the war and that he will meet Putin to discuss it, though the date or venue for a summit is still not publicly known.
The Kremlin has been equally cryptic in addressing talks with the U.S., saying today that it could neither confirm nor deny whether the two leaders had yet spoken to discuss a way to end the war.
Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on the way to New Orleans, Feb 9
Asked whether he had had a conversation with Putin since he became president on January 20 or before, Trump said: ‘I’ve had it. Let’s just say I’ve had it…And I expect to have many more conversations. We have to get that war ended.’
‘If we are talking, I don’t want to tell you about the conversations,’ Trump said.
‘There certainly are a lot of sensitive conversations going on,’ U.S. national security advisor Mike Waltz told NBC, suggesting Trump could use sanctions and tariffs to force Russia’s hand.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, speaking to reporters in Moscow, repeated a statement from Sunday on whether or not there had been a Putin-Trump phone call: ‘There is nothing else I can say. I can neither confirm nor deny it.’
Peskov on Sunday said ‘many different communications are emerging.’
While Trump has voiced reluctance towards continuing financial support for Ukraine, he has sought to carve out a new deal exchanging aid for access to Ukraine’s rare minerals.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy made overtures towards working towards such a deal in comments to Reuters on Friday: ‘If we are talking about a deal, then let’s do a deal, we are only for it.’
