Ukraine could be divided ‘almost like Berlin after World War Two’ as part of a peace deal, President Trump’s envoy to the country has said.
General Keith Kellogg suggested Western troops could adopt zones of control as part of a ‘reassurance force’, while the Russians would occupy the east.
Ukrainian forces would then hold an 18-mile wide demilitarised zone between them.
General Kellogg, the key US figure in ending the three-year conflict, confirmed there would be no American forces on the ground, unlike the formation of Germany after 1945.
He told The Times that British and French-led troops occupying west of the Dnipro river – which cuts Ukraine in half north to south and could act as a demarcation line – would ‘not be provocative at all’ to the Kremlin.
‘You could almost make it look like what happened with Berlin after World War Two, when you had a Russian zone, a French zone and a British zone,’ he added.
His comments came as the Kremlin last night dismissed a key meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump’s peace envoy – in an apparent sign Russia is not interested in a Ukraine ceasefire.
Putin’s spokesman said the talks with US envoy Steve Witkoff, which lasted more than four hours, were ‘not momentous’ and there would be no concessions.
Russia’s hardball stance appeared to infuriate the US President who subsequently posted on the Truth Social platform a demand that Putin ‘gets moving’ over a peace deal to prevent further deaths.
Russia has already rejected an American-backed proposal for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire.
It comes as Ukraine’s allies pledged a record 21 billion euros (£18.2 billion) of military aid for the country, with the UK Defence Secretary warning that 2025 was ‘the critical year’ for the war.
The support announced on Friday includes a £450 million package from Britain and Norway to fund radar systems, anti-tank mines, vehicle repairs and hundreds of thousands of drones for Kyiv.
Witkoff travelled to Russia again on Friday to press the Kremlin to accept a truce but in Brussels there appeared to be little confidence that a pause in hostilities would come.
German defence minister Boris Pistorius said ‘ongoing aggression’ from Russia meant ‘we must concede that peace in Ukraine appears to be out of reach in the immediate future’.
