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Trump Ready to Double Down on Sanctions on Russia to End War in Ukraine, Kellogg Says
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![Vlad Litnarovych]( "Vlad Litnarovych")
US President Donald Trump is ready to escalate sanctions on Russia in a bid to end its war against Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, told The New York Post on February 6.
However, Trump acknowledges that both Ukraine and Russia will need to make concessions to halt the “industrial-sized” bloodshed in Europe’s largest country.
Kellogg criticized the current enforcement of US sanctions, claiming they are only “about a three” on a scale of one to 10 in terms of economic pressure. While the sanctions, particularly those targeting Russia’s lucrative energy sector, are significant, Kellogg noted there’s still room to intensify them.
“You could really increase the sanctions—especially the latest ones targeting oil production and exports,” he said. “It’s opened the aperture way high to do something.”
Kellogg emphasized Trump’s understanding of leverage, pointing to his past foreign policy maneuvers. “If there’s anybody who understands leverage, it’s President Donald J. Trump, and you can see that with what he’s recently done,” he added.
Last Thursday, Trump convened his full national security team—including Vice President JD Vance and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent—in the Oval Office to discuss using all elements of national power to end the war.
“Solving the Russia-Ukraine war is really all hands on deck for the entire administration,” Kellogg said. “We’ve got the national security team talking about it—the president, vice president, national security adviser, secretaries of State and Treasury, National Security Council—all working together.”
While Kellogg stressed the importance of Ukraine maintaining military pressure on Russia, he criticized the Biden administration’s strategy of offering unlimited aid without increasing other forms of pressure.
“That is not a strategy; it’s a bumper sticker,” he remarked. “They’re not prosecuting the war or helping Ukraine as well as they should—whether it’s providing necessary arms or a coherent strategy at the right time.”
Kellogg said Trump recognized the scale of devastation early on. “Even a year ago on the campaign trail, we talked about the demographics, the losses, the absolute scourge of the war. I said, ‘This is World War II levels of violence,’” Kellogg recalled, adding that Trump is focused on a comprehensive approach to ending the war.
This week, Trump floated potential deals with Ukraine over access to its rare earth elements, which are vital to US national security. However, Kellogg stressed that Trump’s priority is first to “stop the killing—just stop it—and then you go from there” regarding future negotiations.
Still, Kellogg insisted that military solutions alone won’t end the war. “You can’t kill your way out of this war,” he said, pointing to Russia’s historical tolerance for massive troop losses.
“For Russia, this is in their DNA when it comes to military operations—you’re in an attrition fight,” Kellogg explained. “Look at history: you’d never want to get into an attrition fight with the Russians because that’s how they fight. This is a country that was willing to lose—and did—700,000 in the Battle of Stalingrad in six months, and they didn’t blink an eye.”
He emphasized the need for a multi-faceted approach. “The pressure just can’t be military. You have to apply economic pressure, diplomatic pressure, and military levers underneath those to make sure this goes where we want it to go.”
Despite these efforts, Kellogg acknowledged that the war won’t end without negotiations. He suggested that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy may be open to ceding some territory to Russia in exchange for security guarantees, such as NATO membership or nuclear armament.
“Very frankly, both sides in any negotiation have to give; that’s just how negotiations work,” Kellogg said. “You have to find out, ‘OK, what’s acceptable? ’ Is it going to be agreeable to everybody? No. Is it going to be acceptable to everybody? No. But you try to run this balance.”
Reflecting on Trump’s September meeting with Zelenskyy at Trump Tower, Kellogg said Trump believes “not only is it time” for a peace agreement, but that a deal can be struck that’s “good for both sides.”
“You have to approach that in a very pragmatic way,” Kellogg explained, citing former President Theodore Roosevelt’s role in brokering the Treaty of Portsmouth, which ended the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. “The czar of Russia and the Japanese were ready to walk out the door during negotiations, and Roosevelt got them together and said, ‘Both of you have to give a little,’ and they did.”
Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts, Kellogg noted. “When you look at that, and even more recent examples, that’s just how it works.”
Earlier, Kellogg clarified that he will not present a peace plan at the upcoming Munich Security Conference, contradicting earlier reports.
