The United States hopes to reach an agreement between Russia and Ukraine this week, but that may not be the final deadline.
Points of attention
- Marco Rubio emphasizes the need for compromises from both Russia and Ukraine to end the war.
- The US government is actively working towards achieving peace in the region and is engaged in high-level negotiations with both parties.
- Rubio acknowledges the challenges of bridging the gap between Russia and Ukraine's positions but remains hopeful for progress.
Rubio believes the US is making every effort to end the war
This was stated by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
I don't know about the end of the week. I hope we can come to something quickly. And I still hope we can do something, because this is a terrible war, and it must end, because there is no military solution to it.
Marco Rubio
US Secretary of State
According to him, neither Russia nor Ukraine will be able to fully realize their military goals:
Russia is not going to just take and occupy all of Ukraine. And Ukraine is not going to throw them back to where they were before 2014.
He noted that the US understands Russia's position better after direct talks: "I would say we are involved in understanding what Russia's position is. We understand it better now because we have actually talked to them after three years of silence."
Rubio believes that Ukraine's position should also be clarified. At the same time, he acknowledged that the positions of the parties may be too far apart: "Then we may conclude that they are so far apart that peace is currently impossible."
He added that the United States is making every effort to broker a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. The United States has "spent a lot of time and effort at the highest levels of government," and he said that this will continue as long as there is a realistic path forward.
If at some point we realize that we are too far apart and not moving forward enough, we may have to move on to other priorities, because there are many important things happening in the world.
He also reminded that the US did not start the war, but is trying to end it. But it depends on Russia and Ukraine.
I hope we will succeed, but ultimately it is not up to us. It is up to Russia and Ukraine. They have to decide that they are ready to move closer to each other, and we have to start seeing progress.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio canceled his trip to London on April 23. The reason for this was Zelensky's refusal to accept a key US proposal — to recognize Crimea as part of the Russian Federation.
