Kellogg has been personally absent from some high-level discussions in recent weeks, including a meeting involving U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio with a Ukrainian delegation in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. He was also absent at a high-level meeting with Russians in Saudi Arabia in February.

Russian forces have recaptured Sudzha, the largest town that Ukraine once occupied in the Kursk region, according to Moscow, threatening Kyiv’s sole territorial bargaining chip amid pressure to negotiate an end to the war.