On Thursday 12 June, the US special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, expressed his optimism after hearing Kyiv and Moscow’s visions for ending Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine.
Explaining that he had received term sheets from both parties, he said that an “end state” was possible. “We put them together and asked ourselves: Okay, how can you meld these two documents together to get to an end state? And we are pretty comfortable right now. We know what an end state could look like, should look like”, he explained at the GMF Forum in Brussels. He believes it is winnable. “Winnable meaning you can get to a peace agreement” he said.
“When we talk about this ‘term sheet’, we are talking about a comprehensive ceasefire [...] means air, land, sea, infrastructure”, explained the special envoy. He called for a ceasefire in place, “which means that the ground you are physically on is yours now. (...) Does this mean de jure or de facto? By law or just by the simple the fact that you're physically on the ground, and as your soldiers are there holding that ground?”
According to Mr Kellogg, 1.2 million Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or wounded since the start of the conflict.
Once a ceasefire had been reached, the envoy explained that the United States wanted the return of the Ukrainian children – over 19,000 of them are thought to have been kidnapped – and the prisoners. “And then we want to try to get the Russians back into what I would call the League of Proper Nations”, he added, refusing to let a war resume in “three, four or five years”.
During the following panel discussion, in the presence of Mr Kellogg, the French Minister Delegate for Europe, Benjamin Haddad, noted that, “despite the considerable efforts of the United States and Europe, we note that one country still refuses to negotiate in good faith, still refuses any serious diplomacy and continues the military escalation, as well as the escalation of rhetoric and demands towards Ukraine. This is Vladimir Putin’s Russia”.
He called for “a just and lasting peace, not just a pause or a ceasefire that Russia could use to regroup, rearm and attack again”. “Our aim is to create the conditions for a cessation of hostilities, an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, because you can’t negotiate under bombs. We need to create a framework conducive to serious negotiation”, added Mr Haddad. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)