Trump’s Ukraine envoy on intelligence support pause: 'They brought it on themselves'

Keith Kellogg, President Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, said Thursday the foreign nation knew an abrupt pause in U.S. intelligence sharing was at risk and their continued choices caused the final blow.

“Very candidly, they brought it on themselves, the Ukrainians,” Kellogg said during a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations.

The Trump administration announced a pause in the transmission of information to Ukraine on Wednesday, which will prevent the country from screening strikes from the Kremlin with Elon Musk’s Starlink systems.

Military aid was also temporarily paused after the president’s heated meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last Friday at the Oval Office, where the two were supposed to sign a minerals agreement that would have allowed the U.S. to extract Ukraine’s rare earth deposits to help repay billions provided in security assistance packages.

Kellogg said the decision to deny Ukraine U.S. intelligence was an effort to get their attention.

“The best way I can describe it is sort of like hitting a mule with a two-by-four across the nose. You got their attention,” Kellogg said.

However, he noted that the U.S. is also putting pressure on Russia to come to the table for peace negotiations through a “transactional diplomacy approach.”

U.S. and Ukrainian officials are expected to meet in Saudi Arabia next week with hopes of securing a ceasefire with Russia in addition to a peace agreement with “security guarantees.”

Zelensky while at the White House last Friday reiterated the new deal should differ from past accords, noting that despite a past ceasefire agreement, Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014 and again in 2022.

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