Trump’s Ukraine, Russia envoy meets Ukrainian ambassador

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(Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, had a “thorough discussion” with Ukraine’s ambassador to Washington in their first official meeting on Thursday, the ambassador said.

Ambassador Oksana Markarova, writing on Facebook, said this was her first meeting with Kellogg since his appointment, though the two had met before.

“We held a thorough discussion with the special envoy and his team and my colleagues,” Markarova wrote.

Ukraine has been trying to establish close relations with the new administration under Trump, who has said he wants to bring a quick end to the nearly three-year-old war with Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said this week his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, had spoken with Trump’s National Security Adviser Michael Waltz and that his team had spoken to Kellogg.

Zelenskiy said working dates for the visit of a U.S. delegation to Ukraine had already been established.

Trump has said little about how he will seek to settle the war in Ukraine.

Kellogg told Reuters last week that the United States wanted Ukraine to hold elections, potentially by the end of the year, especially if Kyiv and Moscow can agree on a truce.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has questioned Zelenskiy’s legitimacy as a negotiator on grounds he has remained in power beyond his mandate. Zelenskiy dismisses that notion, saying no election can be held while martial law remains in place.

A senior Russian parliamentarian, Leonid Slutsky, was quoted by Russian state news agency RIA as saying preparations for a meeting between Putin and Trump were at an “advanced stage”.

Slutsky, head of the State Duma’s international affairs committee, was quoted as saying the meeting could take place in February or March.

(Reporting by Ron Popeski; Editing by Michael Perry)