
President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday he will nominate General Keith Kellogg to serve as assistant to the president and special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.
Kellogg, a retired general who has long been Mr. Trump's top defense adviser, served as former Vice President Mike Pence's national security adviser during the first Trump administration.
The president-elect made the announcement on his social media account "Truth Social" where he wrote: "He was with me from the beginning! Together, we will secure peace through strength and make America and the world safe again!”
Mr Kellogg's appointment comes as February marks three years since the start of the Russian attack on Ukraine.
Mr. Trump has criticized the Biden administration for billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine. Washington has recently increased arms shipments and forgiven billions of dollars in loans to Kiev.
The incoming Republican president has said that he can end the war in 24 hours, but did not provide details on how that would happen.
In April in an article for the America First Policy Institute, one of several groups formed after the first Trump administration to lay the groundwork for the next Republican administration, Mr. Kellogg wrote that "ending the Russia-Ukraine war will require leadership strong based on the America First policy, to reach a peace agreement that would immediately end the conflict between the warring parties"./Voa