US special envoy Keith Kellogg's visit to Kiev 'restores hope'.

This is what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said after their meeting on 20 February.

Kellogg, U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, spoke with Zelensky earlier in the day as part of Washington's efforts to broker a resolution to the full-scale war with Russia, the Kyiv Independent reported

It was "a meeting that restores hope," Zelensky said.

"We need strong agreements with America - agreements that will really work," he stressed.

The meeting took place amid rising tensions between Washington and Kiev in recent days. Ukraine was not invited when the US and Russia held talks in Saudi Arabia on February 18.

Trump praised the US-Russia talks and soon after started repeating the Kremlin's theses in his public statements, calling Zelensky a "dictator" and lied about his approval rating.

Zelensky objected to Ukraine's exclusion from the Riyadh talks and fired back at Trump's false claims, noting that he wished "there was more truth in the Trump team."

When Kellogg arrived in Ukraine on February 19, he said his goal was to "listen" to Kiev's concerns and convey his findings to the White House. Kellogg was removed from the Saudi talks, presumably because the Russian delegation did not like his perceived pro-Ukraine stance.

During his visit, Kellogg met with senior Ukrainian military and government officials. Although Zelensky expressed hope after his meeting with Kellogg, Washington requested that there be no joint press briefing after the talks.

Zelensky said the talks focused on developments on the front line, prisoners of war in Russian captivity and Ukraine's need for long-term security guarantees.

"We all need peace: Ukraine, Europe, America, everyone in the world," the Ukrainian president said. | BGNES