Clarity about Ukraine peace ‘a matter of weeks’ – Rubio
Russia’s stance regarding the potential peace settlement of the Ukraine conflict will be known in the near future, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has claimed.
During a March 18 phone call, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to his US counterpart Donald Trump’s suggestion that both sides implement a 30-day halt on attacks on energy facilities. Since then, Moscow has repeatedly accused Kiev of violating the terms of the agreement.
Speaking to journalists on Friday, Rubio reiterated that Trump wants to put an end to the Ukraine conflict. However, “you can’t end a war unless both sides agree,” Rubio stated. “We will know soon enough – in a matter of weeks, not months – whether Russia is serious about peace or not. I hope they are. It would be good for the world if that war ended, but obviously we have to test that proposition,” he said.
Rubio also claimed that the Ukrainian side had shown “a willingness to enter, for example, into a complete ceasefire to create space for negotiation.”
However, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated on Saturday that starting from the morning of Friday, April 4, “the Kiev regime, contrary to all statements and commitments made by Zelensky to the American side regarding a 30-day cessation of strikes on Russian energy facilities, significantly increased the number of unilateral attacks using drones and artillery munitions against the energy infrastructure of Russian regions.”
Rubio stated that if Russia isn’t ready for peace, “we’ll have to re-evaluate where we stand and what we do moving forward about it, but we’ll be in no different a position than we are today or we were when he took office.”
This week, Putin’s investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev visited Washington for talks with White House officials. Commenting on the results of the negotiations, he said that some progress was made and highlighted the parties’ understanding of how they can move towards finalizing the conflict. Still, Dmitriev warned that third parties were trying to derail normalization efforts initiated by Trump in February.
