US President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Ukraine envoy has postponed a fact-finding trip to Kyiv until after the inauguration on January 20 – fuelling fears America is set to abandon aid for Kyiv’s war effort.

Retired Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg, who is poised to serve as Mr Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, had initially planned a mission to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian leaders in early January.

His team was also setting up meetings with officials in other European capitals, including Rome and Paris.

But the trip, which would have marked the first time incoming Trump administration officials headed to Kyiv since the November 5 election, has now been pushed back.

Lt-Gen Kellogg is now expected to travel to Ukraine only after Mr Trump takes office, though no date has been set, sources said.

It was not immediately clear why he was delaying the trip.

Mr Trump repeatedly said on the campaign trail that he could solve the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office, but he has made little progress toward that end.

However, attempting to quickly wind down the conflict remains a key priority of his incoming administration.

Neither Lt-Gen Kellogg nor a representative for the Ukrainian embassy in Washington immediately responded to requests for comment.

But Mr Trump this week again said that he is eager to see negotiations with Russia on ending the war in Ukraine begin soon after he returns to the White House but gave no specifics on when they would take place.

The incoming US President said he wanted to see negotiations soon because “Russia is losing a lot of young people and so is Ukraine.”

Mr Trump, who spoke with reporters at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, did not say whether or how soon he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin but stressed that such a meeting would not be appropriate until after he is inaugurated on January 20.

“I can’t tell you that, but I know Putin would like to meet,” Mr Trump said.

At the end of December, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there were no preconditions for a meeting between the U.S. and Russian presidents.

The president-elect said during his election campaign he could end the conflict in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office. At the news conference this week Trump said he hoped to end the fighting within six months.

“I hope long before six months,” Trump said, when asked if he could solve the war within half a year.

Mr Trump’s return to the White House brings with it uncertainty on what impact it will have on the nearly three-year-old conflict and whether negotiations can take place. But Trump told the news conference he is determined to get it “straightened out,” adding that it is “a tough one.”