US Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed that President Donald Trump is seeking to end the Ukraine-Russia war completely rather than just implementing a temporary ceasefire, the US State Department reported.
“He wants the war to end. He’s not looking for just a pause. He wants it to end and it’s going to be hard and it’s going to have to move in stages,” Rubio told Clay Travis and Buck Sexton during their radio show.
Rubio emphasized that Trump conveyed this same message directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their recent conversation.
This statement came after Trump’s conversations with both Russian President Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on 12 February. Trump announced immediate negotiations would begin after his call with Putin. Ukrainian President expressed deep concern about potential negotiations that could exclude Ukraine from the peace process.
The Secretary of State suggested that ending the war might begin with a ceasefire. “That’s not been agreed to, not even negotiated, but I’m just saying that – and then opening things like aid corridors and ensuring that both sides aren’t targeting energy infrastructure. So we’ll see how that plays out,” he said.
According to Rubio, Trump is uniquely positioned to broker peace. “I think the US – it’s not going to happen without Trump. He’s the only one in the world that can bring something like this together, but it has to be a global effort. It’s not just us, it’s not just in Europe or NATO. I mean, countries around the world are going to have to participate,” he said.
Rubio also stressed that European nations must step up to provide security guarantees for Ukraine. “The Europeans…have to be willing to step up and do that,” he said, adding that negotiators will need to work through numerous sensitive issues including “territorial claims, arms control and things of that nature, language and cultural matters.”
The Secretary affirmed that the United States would maintain “a stake in Ukraine’s long-term independence.”
This development comes as a meeting involving representatives from Ukraine and Russia is expected during the Munich Security Conference on 14 February. US Vice President JD Vance is also scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the conference.
Read also:
- Reuters: Trump vows to involve Kyiv in negotiations with Russia
- Zelenskyy to Trump: Putin pretends to want peace because he’s “afraid of you”
- Trump refuses to call Ukraine an equal participant in peace talks
