US Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday said Ukraine and Europe would be part of any ‘real negotiations’ to end Moscow’s war, signalling that US talks with Russia this week were a chance to see how serious Russian President Vladimir Putin was about peace.
America’s top diplomat played down European concerns of being cut out of the initial talks between Russia and the United States set to take place in Saudi Arabia in the coming days.
In an interview with CBS, Rubio said a negotiation process had not yet begun in earnest, and if talks advanced, the Ukrainians and other Europeans would be brought into the fold.
Earlier, Reuters reported that US officials had handed European officials a questionnaire asking, among other things, how many troops they could contribute to enforcing a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia.
“President Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin last week, and in it, Vladimir Putin expressed his interest in peace, and the president expressed his desire to see an end to this conflict in a way that was enduring and that protected Ukrainian sovereignty,” Rubio said on CBS’s “Meet the Press.”
“Now, obviously it has to be followed up by action, so the next few weeks and days will determine whether it’s serious or not. Ultimately, one phone call does not make peace.”
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and national security adviser Mike Waltz were due to leave for Saudi Arabia, Witkoff said in a Fox News interview.
Rubio noted he was due to be in Saudi Arabia anyway due to previously arranged official travel. The composition of the Russian delegation had not yet been finalised, he said.
The planned talks in Saudi Arabia coincide with a US bid to cut a deal with Kyiv to open up Ukraine’s natural resources wealth to US investment. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in an NBC interview broadcast yesterday, questioned if minerals in areas held by Russia would be given to Putin.
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