Politics
Rubio Provides Significant Update On Ukraine Peace Negotiations
Secretary of State Macro Rubio suggested Thursday that the only way a peace agreement can be reached in Ukraine is for President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet face-to-face.
Thursday was initially expected to be a significant turning point in the negotiations, as Putin suggested that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should meet face-to-face in Turkey last week. Zelensky agreed to the meeting this past Sunday after President Trump suggested he do so, setting the stage for a potential diplomatic breakthrough.
After both Russian and Ukrainian delegations, including President Zelensky, landed in various Turkish cities on Thursday, Putin flaked on the meeting and announced that he will not be attending the talks. Senior Russian officials would also not be in attendance, the Kremlin stated, at which point President Trump announced that he will also be skipping the talks.
According to a report from Fox News, frustration grew as the delegations and mediators spent much of the day questioning when, and even whether, they would meet on Thursday before the meeting was ultimately pushed to Friday.
“Frankly, at this point, I think it’s abundantly clear that the only way we’re going to have a breakthrough here is between President Trump and President Putin,” Rubio told reporters on Thursday. “It’s going to require that level of engagement to have a breakthrough in this matter.”
Striking a somewhat pessimistic tone, Rubio expressed doubt over whether “anything productive will happen from this point forward,” at least not until Trump and Putin “engage in a very frank and direct conversation.”
The secretary added that President Trump is willing to engage in direct talks with Putin in the near future.
Last weekend, Putin suggested that Ukraine and Russia should engage in direct talks. Zelensky agreed, setting the stage for what what have been the first meeting between the two world leaders since 2019.
President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky meet ahead of Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome
In a somewhat surprising statement, Trump suggested that he may travel to Turkey from the UAE if progress was made in the talks on Thursday. It was never previously expected that Trump would be present for the opening meeting, however.
While speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday, the U.S. president reiterated that negotiations can not progress until he and Putin meet face-to-face.
“Look, nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together. OK?” Trump said. “He was going to go, but he thought I was going to go. He wasn’t going if I wasn’t there.”
“I don’t believe anything’s going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together,” he added.
Any future plans for a potential face-to-face meeting remain uncertain as of this report.
“What I can say with certainty is that the president’s… willing to stick with [this] as long as it takes to achieve peace,” Rubio said. “What we cannot do, however, is continue to fly all over the world and engage in meetings that are not going to be productive.”
“The only way we’re going to have a breakthrough here is with President Trump sitting face to face with President Putin and determining once and for all whether there’s a path for peace,” he added.
