Keith Kellogg has echoed Moscow's characterization of the hostilities

Russian President Vladimir Putin is right in considering the Ukraine conflict a proxy war against Russia, US President Donald Trump's special envoy Keith Kellogg told Fox News in an interview on Sunday.

He said that while he believes the peace process will ultimately succeed, "escalatory issues" remain. Kellogg referred to comments by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who last month indicated that Berlin would be open to supplying Kiev with Taurus cruise missiles.

Kellogg addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin's perspective, saying "he considers this a proxy war by NATO. And frankly... in a way it is."

"The escalatory issues are still there," Kellogg said. "Chancellor Merz has said: well, I'm going to give the Ukrainians the Taurus missile system."

The German cruise missiles have a range of roughly 300 miles (482 km), which can allow Ukrainian strikes to reach deep into Russian territory, Kellog said. He added that Putin has made it clear: if such weapons are supplied to Ukraine, Russia will regard the suppliers as a party to the conflict.

Russia can clearly see the other Western military support Ukraine is receiving, Kellogg added.

"Everybody has got to be willing to step back a bit," and compromise, to get the peace process "to an end state," the envoy said.

Last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that Merz's "provocative" statements "hinder peaceful efforts." Moscow has stressed that any Ukrainian use of German Taurus missiles against Russian territory will be viewed as Berlin's direct involvement in the Ukraine conflict, as the armaments' use is impossible without the participation of Bundeswehr service members.

Last year, after Trump's predecessor Joe Biden allowed the use of US ATACMS ballistic missiles in long-range strikes on Russian territory, Moscow retaliated by revamping its strategic doctrine and lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons. Russia now considers any strike by a non-nuclear state backed up by a nuclear one as a joint attack.

Both Kellogg and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio have previously characterized the conflict as a proxy war.

"Frankly, it's a proxy war between nuclear powers - the United States, helping Ukraine, and Russia," Rubio said in March, noting that the current White House administration is eager to see it end.

Moscow has long designated the Ukraine conflict as a Western proxy war against Russia and repeatedly condemned arms supplies to Kiev as counterproductive to the peace process.