President Trump has been attuned to the distressing images of barbarism and bloodshed coming out of Ukraine, and the daughter of his top envoy to the country says he wants to “stop the killing” — which may be motivating his “major statement” about the war with Russia expected next week.
Meaghan Mobbs, the daughter of retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, said the war’s relentless casualties have bolstered Trump’s resolve to end it.
The toll of the destruction could also be behind the president’s swift and unsparing change in posture when it comes to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
“The thing about people get so wrong about the president — the president is a very personal person,” Mobbs told The Post, while making it clear she was not speaking on behalf of the president or her father.
“He feels things very intensely when he talks about seeing the satellite images of bodies on a field, and that he wants the killing to stop. That’s not coming from a place of being pro-Russian,” she continued, referring to criticism the commander-in-chief has received for mentioning Russian losses.
“That’s our place of being pro-human. He feels very personally about these things.”
Mobbs has seen the violence firsthand, not just from her close relationship with her father but because she operates the RT Weatherman Foundation — one of the leading relief groups helping the Ukrainian military and citizenry survive the onslaught from Putin’s forces.
“Things are really bad, and I can tell you they’re really bad because I’m literally seeing them with my own eyes, or I’m literally experiencing this,” she said.
The more than three-year war is reaching a pivotal moment, with Russia unleashing back-to-back record-breaking drone attacks in July and notching up a grim number of civilian fatalities.
NATO jets were forced to scramble when Russian forces fired 728 Shahed and decoy drones along with 13 cruise and ballistic missiles on Tuesday night — just hours after Trump accused Putin of throwing “bullsh-t” over peace talks.
“I didn’t make any progress with him today at all,” Trump also said after another previous call with his counterpart. “I’m very disappointed … I don’t think he’s looking to stop.”
A 1-year-old boy was then “deliberately” executed on Wednesday in a targeted drone attack in southern Ukraine — where terrified residents say they feel they are being hunted in a sick game of “human safari,” officials said.
Putin’s defiance is a failure the president — who has long touted his ability to work with the Russian leader and even made campaign promises off it — has taken to heart, according to Mobbs.
“I think the president had just always wanted to directly manage the relationship with Putin, because he sees himself as the only one able to manage that relationship because of their connection,” she explained.
Trump made it clear on the campaign trail that he “has a desire to solve the war, and it’s no small job,” Mobbs said.
“He always knew that he was going to be the point person for Russia,” she added.
The frustration with Moscow, amplified by the heart-wrenching images of escalating violence, including a picture of the toddler’s lifeless body and then a maternity ward full of newborns being wrecked in a drone attack, may have prompted Trump to take decisive action.
“I’ll have a major statement to make on Russia on Monday,” Trump told NBC News on Thursday. “You’ll be seeing things happen.”
Trump did not elaborate on what he meant, but it has been speculated that a huge tariff — 500% on any country buying Russian oil — that’s been proposed in the Senate could be his trump card.
Whatever the statement is, the coming week could shape up to be the most crucial moment in the war — and one that Mobbs thinks has been an inevitable conclusion since Russia first invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
“We’ve never been neutral. We’ve always been going to do what is in the best interest of America,” she said, disputing claims that Trump has harbored pro-Russian interests.
“I think the President always believed you’re going to do what was in America’s best interest. Under that very nature that makes us not neutral.”
