US President Donald Trump's special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, who announced he would step down in January, said the end of the war in Ukraine is 'really close.' He said the resolution of the conflict hinges primarily on resolving two contentious issues. However, the Kremlin noted that some American proposals need to be revised and significantly changed, Reuters reports, quoted by BTA.
Trump, who wants to be remembered as a president "peacemaker", acknowledged that ending the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II remains the most difficult goal of his foreign policy.
Kellogg made the statement during the "Reagan" National Defense Forum in California, emphasizing that efforts to resolve the conflict are "in their final stages" - the most difficult to achieve.
The two key issues are the future of Donbas and Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant - the largest in Europe, currently under Russian control.
“If we can solve those two issues, the rest will fall into place relatively easily,“ Kellogg said. “We're almost there. We're really close,“ he added.
The retired lieutenant general, who served in the Vietnam, Panama and Iraq wars, said the scale of the deaths and injuries in Ukraine was “horrifying“ and unprecedented for a regional conflict.
According to Kellogg, the total number of deaths and injuries on both sides since the start of the war exceeds two million people. He added that neither Russia nor Ukraine provide reliable figures for their losses.