US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Ukraine would have to make territorial concessions as part of any peace agreement ahead of US-Ukraine talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, The New York Times reports.
The talks will come amid US President Donald Trump’s order to suspend military support for Kyiv and the halt of intelligence sharing with Ukraine following a public dispute with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office.
“The most important thing that we have to leave here with is a strong sense that Ukraine is prepared to do difficult things like the Russians are going to have to do difficult things to end this conflict or at least pause it in some way, shape or form,” Rubio told reporters.
While he declined to disclose details of a potential deal, he emphasized that mutual concessions would be central.
“I think both sides need to come to an understanding that there’s no military solution to this situation. The Russians can’t conquer all of Ukraine, and obviously, it’ll be very difficult for Ukraine in any reasonable time period to sort of force the Russians back all the way to where they were in 2014,” Rubio stated.
He also stressed the need to determine what Moscow is willing to concede in future negotiations.
“We don’t know how far apart they truly are,” he noted.
Rubio also assured that Washington still provides Kyiv with intelligence data to help defend against Russian attacks. He also confirmed that Starlink will not restrict Ukraine’s access to satellite internet.
The US secretary of state added that the US “was trying to demonstrate that it still had ways to coerce Russia,” alluding to US President Donald Trump’s threats of new sanctions against the Kremlin.
Rubio also revealed that US and Ukrainian officials will likely discuss the resumption of military aid during the meeting in Saudi Arabia. He suggested that Washington’s stance on aid could shift if it believes Ukraine is serious about peace.
“I can assure you this: we will not be providing military aid to the Russians,” Rubio added.
On 10 March, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Saudi Arabia for US-Ukraine talks.
According to Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi, the Ukrainian-American consultations in Saudi Arabia this week will focus on bilateral relations and the path to peace in Ukraine.
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