WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that he has chosen Keith Kellogg, a highly decorated retired three-star general, to serve as his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.

Kellogg, one of the architects of a staunchly conservative policy book that lays out an “America First” national security agenda for the incoming administration, would come into the role as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its third year in February.

Kellogg, 80, a retired Army lieutenant general who has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues, served as national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, was chief of staff of the National Security Council and then stepped in as an acting security adviser for Trump after Michael Flynn resigned.

As special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Kellogg will have to navigate an increasingly untenable war between the two nations.

The White House has delivered over $56 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s February 2022 invasion and expects to send billions more before Biden leaves office in less than two months. Trump has criticized the billions the Biden administration has spent in supporting Ukraine and has said he could end the war in 24 hours, comments that suggest he would press Ukraine to surrender land that Russia now occupies.

As a co-chairman of the American First Policy Institute’s Center for American Security, Kellogg wrote several of the chapters in the group’s policy book. The book, like the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025,” is designed to lay out a Trump national security agenda and avoid the mistakes of 2016 when Trump took over largely unprepared.

Kellogg in April wrote that “bringing the Russia-Ukraine war to a close will require strong, America First leadership.”

Kellogg featured in multiple Trump investigations dating to his first term. He was among the administration officials who listened in on the July 2019 call between Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which Trump prodded his Ukrainian counterpart to pursue investigations into the Bidens.

The call, which Kellogg would later say did not raise any concerns on his end, was at the center of the first of two House impeachment cases against Trump, who was acquitted by the Senate both times.

On Jan. 6, 2021, hours before pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Kellogg, who was then Pence’s national security adviser, listened in on a heated call in which Trump told his vice president to object or delay the certification in Congress of President Joe Biden’s victory.

He later told House investigators that he recalled Trump saying to Pence words to the effect of: “You’re not tough enough to make the call.”

Ohio transgender law: Transgender students from kindergarten through college at Ohio public and private schools will be banned from using multiperson bathrooms that fit their gender identities under a measure that Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said Wednesday he has signed.

DeWine signed the law Tuesday over the objections of Democrats, teachers’ unions and civil rights groups, which had hoped that his objections to a ban on gender-affirming care for minors last year would carry through and prompt another veto. It takes effect in 90 days. The governor issued no statement regarding the signing, done out of public view.

Also, 26 states have now adopted laws restarting or banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors. The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments next Wednesday on whether Tennessee’s ban on such treatments can continue to be enforced.

Drones in the UK: A criminal investigation has been launched after the U.S. Air Force reported that drones were spotted over English military bases, a British official said Wednesday.

The U.S. Air Force reported several incursions occurred in the past week at four bases where the American forces operate. The drones were monitored and unspecified mitigation measures were underway.

Ministry of Defense Police and local authorities are investigating the activity alongside U.S. forces, Defense Minister Vernon Coaker said in Parliament.

Le Pen trial: Marine Le Pen’s trial on charges of embezzling European Parliament funds is ending with one key question: Will France’s far-right figure be able to run in the ’27 presidential race?

The Paris court is expected to render its verdict in the spring.

Le Pen’s National Rally party and 25 of its officials, including her, are accused of having used money intended for EU parliamentary aides to instead pay party staff.

Pakistan ends lockdown: Authorities reopened roads linking Pakistan’s capital with the rest of the country Wednesday, ending a four-day lockdown after using tear gas and firing into the air to disperse backers of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan who marched to Islamabad to demand his release.

Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, who was leading the protest, and other demonstrators fled in vehicles when police pushed back against the protesters following clashes in which at least seven people were killed.

The police operation came hours after thousands of Khan supporters, defying government warnings, broke through a barrier of shipping containers blocking off Islamabad and entered a high-security zone where they clashed with security forces.