President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday he will nominate retired Gen. Keith Kellogg as assistant to the president and special envoy to Ukraine and Russia.

“Keith has had a distinguished military and business career, including serving in highly sensitive national security positions in my first administration. He was by my side from the beginning! Together we will ensure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH and bring America and the world to peace. SAFE AGAIN!” Trump said in a statement announcing his decision.

During Trump’s first term, Kellogg served as chief of staff and executive secretary of the National Security Council. He previously served in the military for over 35 years.

Kellogg co-authored a policy paper in April, obtained by NBC News, outlining how he would end the war in Ukraine, including potentially conditioning U.S. military aid to Kiev from participating in peace talks with Russia.

The paper proposed a ceasefire, with Kellogg and co-author Fred Fleitz writing: “Specifically, pursuing a ceasefire and a negotiated settlement to the Ukraine conflict would constitute a formal U.S. policy. The United States would continue to arm and strengthen Ukraine.” Its defense measures are intended to ensure that Russia does not make further advances or attack again after a ceasefire or peace agreement. However, future American military assistance will require Ukraine’s participation in peace talks with Russia.

In the paper, the two authors appeared to acknowledge that an end to the war was unlikely as long as Russian President Vladimir Putin still ruled his country.

“Ukraine would not be asked to abandon the goal of retaking all of its territory, but it would agree to use diplomacy rather than force, with the understanding that this would require a future diplomatic breakthrough that is unlikely to occur before.” Putin is leaving office,” Kellogg said and Fleitz wrote.

The two also said it would be difficult for Ukraine to accept a peace deal “that does not give it back all of its territory or, at least for now, hold Russia responsible for the carnage it has inflicted on Ukraine.”

The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the president-elect supports Kellogg’s policy document.

Trump repeatedly promised during the campaign to end the war, but gave no specifics about how he would achieve this. At a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in September, Trump told reporters: “We will work intensively with both parties to try to sort this thing out and find a solution.”

He added: “It has to come to an end. It has to end at some point. He went through hell. His country has gone through hell.”

At an earlier campaign rally in Georgia, Trump complained about U.S. aid to Ukraine, saying, “Every time Zelensky comes to the United States, he goes home with $100 billion. I think he’s the greatest salesman in the world. But we’re stuck in this war – if I’m not president, I’ll let it negotiate.

Trump and Zelensky have a complicated relationship. A phone call between the two leaders in July 2019 led to Trump’s first impeachment. Trump has been accused of withholding aid from Ukraine to pressure Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. He denied wrongdoing and was later acquitted in the Republican-led Senate.

Vice President-elect JD Vance has also spoken out against aid to Ukraine, as has Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services.

“I know what Donald Trump was thinking at that meeting. He thought, “I want to turn this guy around, hold him by the legs and shake all the money out of his pockets and hope it turns into $208 billion… That’s what the Democrats gave him and that’s what we have to bring.” Money home,” Kennedy said at a Trump rally in September.

During an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Vance also expressed support for holding peace talks. “I think it’s important that if we ever want to end the war in Ukraine, we need to fundamentally have negotiations at some level between Ukraine, between Russia, between our NATO allies in Europe,” he said .

Vance has long criticized U.S. aid to Ukraine, writing in an editorial earlier this year: “Frankly, there is no good reason why U.S. aid should be necessary.” Europe is made up of many great nations with productive economies. “

And in February 2022, shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine, he said on a podcast: “I don’t actually care what happens to Ukraine one way or another.”