Trump Envoy Says Russian Concern over NATO Enlargement is Fair

US Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg looks on as he meets with Polish President Andrzej Duda at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, February 18, 2025. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
US Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg looks on as he meets with Polish President Andrzej Duda at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, February 18, 2025. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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Trump Envoy Says Russian Concern over NATO Enlargement is Fair

US Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg looks on as he meets with Polish President Andrzej Duda at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, February 18, 2025. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
US Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg looks on as he meets with Polish President Andrzej Duda at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, February 18, 2025. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

US President Donald Trump's envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said Russia's concern over the eastward enlargement of NATO was fair and the United States did not want to see Ukraine in the US-led military alliance.

Asked by US network ABC News about a Reuters report that Russia wanted a written pledge over NATO not enlarging eastwards to include Ukraine and other former Soviet republics, Kellogg said: "It's a fair concern."

"We've said that to us, Ukraine coming into NATO is not on the table, and we're not the only country that says that - you know I could probably give you four other countries in NATO and it takes 32 of the 32 to allow you to come in to NATO," he told ABC late on Thursday. "That's one of the issues that Russia will bring up."

"They're not just talking Ukraine, they're talking the country of Georgia, they're talking Moldova," Kellogg said, adding that a decision on US views of NATO enlargement was for Trump to make.

Kellogg said the sequencing of the peace talks would include an attempt to merge the two memorandums drafted by Ukraine and Russia into one single document with talks in Turkey on Monday.

"When we get into Istanbul next week we'll sit down and talk," Kellogg said, adding that the national security advisers from Germany, France and Britain would join discussions on the memorandum with the United States.

Kellogg said Trump was "frustrated" with Russia because he had seen "a level of unreasonableness" from Russian President Vladimir Putin. He scolded Russia for striking Ukrainian cities and said he had told Ukraine to turn up to talks.

A conservative estimate of dead and injured in the Ukraine war - from both sides combined - totals 1.2 million, Kellogg said.

"That is a stunning number - this is war on an industrial scale," Kellogg told ABC.



Trump May Travel to China to Meet Xi in ‘Not-Too-Distant Future’

 President Donald Trump meets with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, July 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
President Donald Trump meets with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, July 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
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Trump May Travel to China to Meet Xi in ‘Not-Too-Distant Future’

 President Donald Trump meets with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, July 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
President Donald Trump meets with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, July 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP)

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he may visit China soon for a landmark trip at a time of simmering trade and security tensions.

"President Xi has invited me to China, and we'll probably be doing that in the not-too-distant future," Trump told reporters in the White House's Oval Office.

"A little bit out, but not too distant. And I've been invited by a lot of people, and we'll make those decisions pretty soon."

Reuters has reported that Trump and Xi's aides have discussed a potential meeting between the leaders during a trip by the US president to Asia later this year, citing two people familiar with the plans.

While plans for a meeting have not been finalized, discussions on both sides of the Pacific have included a possible Trump stopover around the time of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea or talks on the sidelines of the October 30-November 1 event, the people said.

Another possible trip would be for a September 3 Beijing ceremony commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, which Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning to attend.

The White House and the Chinese government had declined to comment on that earlier Reuters report.

Trump made the comment about meeting Xi during a meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., a key Pacific ally who Trump said he had successfully moved away from China, even as he said it was fine for the two countries to have relations.

Trump has sought to lower tensions with Beijing in recent weeks after pausing a tit-for-tat tariff war that has upended global trade and supply chains.

Trump has sought to impose tariffs on virtually all foreign goods, which he says will stimulate domestic manufacturing and which critics say will make many consumer goods more expensive for Americans.

He has called for a universal base tariff rate of 10% on goods imported from all countries, with higher rates for imports from some, including China. Imports from China have the highest tariff rate of 55%.

Trump has set a deadline of August 12 for the US and China to reach a durable tariff agreement.

Other points of friction between the countries include China's support for Russia, trade in fentanyl-related chemicals, regional security worries, and exit bans on some American residents.