Exclusive | Trump ready to double down on Russian sanctions, US envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg says

WASHINGTON — President Trump is prepared to double down on US sanctions for Russia to bring about an end to its war on Ukraine, retired Gen.Keith Kellogg, his special envoy to the conflict, exclusively told The Post this week — but he knows both Kyiv and Moscow will have to make concessions to end the “industrial-sized” killing in Europe’s largest country.Sanctions enforcement on Russia are “only about a three” on a scale of one to 10 on how painful the economic pressure can be, Kellogg said.

The US sanctions themselves — such as those targeting Russia’s lucrative energy sector — are nominally twice as high, but there is still room to ratchet them up.“You could really increase the sanctions — especially the latest sanctions [targeting oil production and exports,]” he said.“It’s opened the aperture way high to do something.“And if there’s anybody who understands leverage, it’s President Donald J.

Trump, and you can see that with what he’s recently done [in other foreign problem-solving.]”Last Thursday, Trump gathered his “whole confirmed team” of advisers and cabinet members focused on national security — from Vice President JD Vance to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — in the Oval Office, where Kellogg said they discussed how to use all elements of national power to end the war.“Solving the Russia-Ukraine war is really all hands on deck for the entire administration, so a whole-of-government approach,” the general said.“We got the national security team talking about it — the president, vice president, national security adviser, secretaries of State [and] Treasury, National Security Council, working all together.”Though Kellogg said Ukraine will need to keep up its military pressure on Russia ahead of negotiations, he lambasted former President Biden’s strategy of promising to provide Ukraine aid “as long as it takes, as much as it takes” without cranking up the pressure on other elements of nationa...