A top US envoy to Ukraine has suggested fragmenting Volodymyr Zelensky’s country into sections in an attempt to end the war. General Keith Kellogg likened the idea to Berlin after the Second World War, explaining that both British and French forces could adopt zones of control in the west of Ukraine, and that Russia’s army could occupy the east.

Donald Trump’s envoy claims the presence of troops would act as part of a “reassurance force”, with the Ukrainian military between them, as well as a demilitarised area. “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, a US zone,” he told the Times.

The retired general said the natural dividing line of the Dnipro river, which runs from north to south, would work as a barrier between the zones, insisting it would “not be provocative at all”.

His analogy excluded his own country’s forces, clarifying that the US would not be providing any troops on the ground.

The caveat to Kellogg’s plan would be Ukraine handing over its eastern territories, which are currently under Russian control. Mr Trump’s envoy acknowledged that Vladimir Putin “might not accept” the suggested zones.

President Putin’s right hand man, Sergei Lavrov, has already made clear that peacekeeping troops in Ukraine from NATO countries would not be accepted “under any conditions”.

During an interview, the Foreign Minister said: "We see no room for compromise.

"This would mean no longer hybrid involvement, but the direct, official, unconcealed participation of Nato countries in war against Russia."

Despite the concept of the division of Ukraine being similar to Berlin in WW2, there are stark differences in Kellogg’s proposal. Ukraine would be asking countries to provide troops to certain zones in the west of the country, whereas Germany was forced to surrender land to invading forces.

The comments from Kellogg follow Steven Witkoff’s meeting with President Putin on Friday.

Taking to his social media platform Truth Social, Mr Trump wrote: “Russia has to get moving. Too many people ere [sic] DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war — a war that should have never happened, and wouldn’t have happened, if I were president!!!”