Trump envoy proposes dividing Ukraine like Berlin after World War II

Ukraine could be divided like Berlin after World War II, US President Donald Trump’s envoy to the war-torn nation has said.

US Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg suggested Ukraine could be partitioned with a British and French-controlled zone in the west and Russian forces stationed in the east as part of a peace deal to bring the war to an end.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv in February.Credit: AP

“You could almost make it look like what happened with Berlin after the Second World War, when you had a Russian zone, a French zone, and a British zone, a US zone,” he told The Times, before clarifying that the US would not provide any ground troops under this scenario.

The proposal would require Ukraine to cede control of its eastern territories, which are now under Russian control. It came as Steve Witkoff, another of Trump’s special envoys, was in St Petersburg, Russia, on Friday (Saturday AEST) to meet Vladimir Putin to discuss a ceasefire deal.

Witkoff was pictured shaking Putin’s hand during the meeting, which the Kremlin said in a statement lasted for four hours while playing down expectations of any “breakthroughs”. Earlier this week, he told Trump the fastest way to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine was to support a strategy that would give Russia ownership of four eastern Ukrainian regions it attempted to annex illegally in 2022, two US officials and five people familiar with the situation told Reuters.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff (left) with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg.Credit: Kremlin via AP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly voiced opposition to relinquishing land to Russia without NATO protection for its remaining territories.

“Ukraine will never recognise territories that are occupied by Russia as Russian territory. For us, this will be temporary occupations,” he said in March, adding: “Our territories and our values are not for sale.”

Russia is staunchly against any NATO protections for Ukraine, while the Trump administration has signalled its opposition to the country joining the military alliance.

Kellogg, 80, suggested a 30-kilometre buffer zone could be implemented along the war’s existing front lines.

A view of Pokrovsk, the site of heavy battles with Russian troops, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, late last month.Credit: AP

“You look at a map and you create, for lack of a better term, a demilitarised zone [DMZ]. Take both sides back up 15 kilometres each, that’s [a total of] 18 miles,” he said.

“And you have a ... DMZ that you can monitor, and you’ve got this ... no-fire zone.

“Now, are there going to be violations? Probably, because there always are,” he admitted. “But your ability to monitor that is easy.”

Kellogg said British and French forces would be deployed west of the Dnipro river, which bisects the country and flows through its capital, Kyiv.

The river would provide a “major obstacle” between the different powers, he added, suggesting it could become a line of demarcation between Ukraine’s eastern and western zones.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have said they are prepared to commit peacekeeping troops to Ukraine to guarantee its independence from future Russian invasions.

‘Plan for the worst case’

Kellogg warned Britain and France that they could not count on Trump’s support for their coalition, advising them to “plan for the worst case”.

Although he insisted his suggestion would “not be provocative at all” to Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov previously said the Kremlin would not allow troops from NATO countries into Ukraine “under any conditions”.

On Friday, Trump expressed frustration with the Russian leader as Moscow continued to launch drones and missile strikes on Ukrainian cities.

“Russia has to get moving. Too many people [are] dying, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war,” the US president wrote on social media.

Meanwhile, Moscow’s forces have stepped up their attacks on Ukrainian positions, and Kyiv has warned that reserves are massing in preparation for a major push.

But Putin’s hopes to seize more land before signing a ceasefire are doomed to fail, experts believe, as his army remains plagued with problems, dysfunction and incompetence.

Russian forces, observers warn, are running low on tanks and armoured vehicles and would be unable to capitalise on any minor gains they might achieve.

Furthermore, due to Ukraine’s ability to strike with drones, it is unlikely Russia would be able to get enough troops into position to achieve a breakthrough.

Dmytro Zhmailo, executive director of the Ukrainian Security and Co-operation Centre, said: “For now, any offensive by Russia on the frontline is impossible.

“Russia does not have any big military victories on the frontline, so they want to give the impression that there are huge movements and advantages. We do not see this on the ground.”

Last month, Zelensky and G7 officials warned that Russia was preparing for a renewed assault, with fears Putin could zone in on the Sumy and Kharkiv regions. If they were captured, it could give Putin an upper hand at the negotiating table in future talks.

The Telegraph, London

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.