By Gram Slattery
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Ukraine envoy will travel to Kyiv and several other European capitals in early January as the next administration tries to bring a swift end to the Russia-Ukraine war, according to two sources with knowledge of the trip’s planning.
Retired Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg, who is set to serve as Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, is not planning to visit Moscow during this trip, said the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss private matters.
Instead, he will visit senior leaders in Kyiv, and his team is working to set up meetings with leaders in other European capitals, such as Rome and Paris, said the sources. Planning for the trip is still being finalized and the itinerary could change, one of the sources warned.
The meetings are expected to focus on “fact-finding” on behalf of the incoming Trump administration, rather than on active negotiations, the sources said. Still, the planned trip illustrates the urgency the president-elect has placed on winding down the war in Ukraine.
Trump has promised to end the war within 24 hours of taking office, if not before. Former intelligence and national-security officials have expressed doubt that such a feat can be accomplished, in part because Russian President Vladimir Putin may have little reason to come to the negotiating table, at least on terms acceptable to Kyiv.
A representative for Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did representatives of the Ukrainian and Italian embassies in Washington. It was not immediately possible to reach a representative of the French embassy in Washington.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery, editing by Ross Colvin and Rod Nickel)
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