The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has welcomed the nomination of Keith Kellogg for the position of Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia and expressed its readiness to cooperate.

MFA welcomes Kellogg’s nomination for special envoy for Ukraine and Russia

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America First, Russia, & Ukraine by Lt. General (Ret.) Keith Kellogg & Fred Fleitz

Putin says loss of trust in West will make future Ukraine talks harder

At a news conference in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, Putin bemoaned the failure to implement the Minsk agreements – ceasefire and constitutional reform deals between Kyiv and Russian-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine brokered in 2014 and 2015 by Russia, France and Germany, at the outset of the conflict with Ukraine.

“We thought we would still be able to agree within the framework of the Minsk peace agreements. What can you say? There is a question of trust,” Putin said. “And trust, of course, is almost at zero.”

Putin had been asked about remarks by former German chancellor Angela Merkel, one of the agreements’ sponsors, who told the Zeit magazine in an interview published on Wednesday that the 2014 agreement had been “an attempt to give Ukraine time” – which it had used to become more able to defend itself.

Russian media and politicians have quickly construed this as a betrayal on Merkel’s part.

“It turns out that no one was going to fulfil all these Minsk agreements,” Putin said, “and the point was only to pump up Ukraine with weapons and prepare it for hostilities.”