WASHINGTON, March 15 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Saturday that General Keith Kellogg's role has been narrowed from special envoy for Ukraine and Russia to only Ukraine, after Russian officials had sought to exclude him from talks aiming to end the war.

"General Kellogg, a Highly Respected Military Expert, will deal directly with President (Volodymyr Zelenskiy), and Ukrainian leadership," Trump said in a post on Truth Social. "He knows them well, and they have a very good working relationship together."

Russian officials had communicated to their counterparts in the United States that they did not want Kellogg involved in top-level discussions aimed at ending the Ukraine war, sources told Reuters this week. Some high-ranking former Russian officials have complained that Kellogg was, in their view, too sympathetic to Kyiv.

Kellogg, 80, 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.

The U.S. and Ukraine agreed to a 30-day ceasefire in principle during their meeting in Saudi Arabia. But Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested on Thursday that the ceasefire bid needs serious reworking.

Kellogg was also absent at a high-level meeting with Russians in Saudi Arabia in February.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner)

((timothy.gardner@thomsonreuters.com))