US special envoy in Kiev amid war of words between Trump, Zelensky

Donald Trump’s special envoy has arrived in Ukraine to “listen” to Kiev’s concerns amid a deepening rift between the new US administration and the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Keith Kellogg said he was in Kiev to “sit and listen and say: what are your concerns?”

“We understand the need for security guarantees,” Kellogg said.

Kellogg, in addition to Zelensky, is set to meet with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.

He arrived in the Ukrainian capital hours after top US and Russian diplomats held discussions in Saudi Arabia about the war in Ukraine. The two sides agreed to work on ending the war, which enters its fourth year next week.

Ukraine, which was shut out of the talks along with its European allies, expressed dissatisfaction, with Zelensky saying that his country wouldn’t accept any outcome from the talks.

Russia: US starts to better understand Moscow after talks in Riyadh

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow and Washington agreed to work together on ending the war in Ukraine .

The US president, however, dismissed Kiev’s concerns, telling reporters that Kiev had had three years to end the war, which it “should have never started.”

“Today I heard, 'oh, well, we weren't invited.' Well, you've been there for three years... You should have never started it. You could have made a deal,” he told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida.

Trump lives in ‘disinformation space’: Zelensky

On Wednesday, Zelensky took aim at his American counterpart, saying that Trump is living in a “disinformation space” as a result of his administration’s discussions with Kremlin officials.

Shortly before he was expected to meet with Washington’s special envoy, he said he “would like Trump’s team to be more truthful.”

“Unfortunately, President Trump – I have great respect for him as a leader of a nation that we have great respect for, the American people who always support us – unfortunately lives in this disinformation space.”

Zelensky also reiterated that a deal to end the war needed Kiev’s involvement.

The Ukrainian leader said he wanted to get solid security guarantees from Kie's Western allies that would enable the war with Russia to end in 2025.

"We want security guarantees this year because we want to end the war this year."

President Vladimir Putin of Russia launched a “special military operation” in Ukraine in February 2022, saying that the aim of the operation was to "demilitarize and denazify" the pro-Western government of Zelensky and prevent the country from joining the US-led military alliance, NATO.

During the war, the US remained Ukraine’s largest single-country donor.

The administration of former President Joe Biden has given Ukraine more than $65 billion in aid since the war began nearly three years ago.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk