Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Monday that Ukraine is unlikely to reclaim all the territory that has been captured by Russia since 2014.
Rubio said Russia and Ukraine both must do “difficult things” to end the conflict.
“The most important thing we have to leave here is a strong sense of Ukraine being prepared to do something difficult, so that the Russians have to do something difficult to end this conflict, or at least pause it in some form, form or form,” he told reporters. New York Times.
The secretary said the two countries need to understand that there is no military solution to the conflict. “The Russians cannot conquer everything in Ukraine, and obviously it will be very difficult for the Russians to come back all the way to where it was 2014 in a reasonable period,” he added.
Rubio said it is currently unclear how far Russia and Ukraine are separated by potential conditions for a ceasefire.
Rubio was part of the US delegation for consultations with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia on February 18th. The same delegation, including President Trump's envoy Steve Witkov and national security adviser Mike Waltz, will sit on Tuesday with a Ukrainian delegation led by Andry Yermack, the top advisor to Ukrainian President Voldymi Zelensky.
Trump has been criticized for clearly transferring important Russian demands at the beginning of peace talks, and Rubio's comments have been criticized as the latest example.
Last month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegses said in opening his remarks before the Ukrainian Defence Contact Group meeting that Ukraine should not reclaim all territory from Russia and should not expect to join NATO, a longtime Kiev demand.
The Trump administration was vague about how much Ukraine needs to give up and whether it would support Russia's claims on four regions in eastern Ukraine, which have been partially occupied since the 2022 invasion.
Trump also said it was not “practical” for Ukraine to join NATO. This is a security guarantee that ensures that the Kremlin does not renew any attacks on Ukraine in the future.
This week's talks in Jeddah come less than two weeks after Trump's confrontational oval office meeting with Zelensky.
Since then, Trump has halted US military aid to Ukraine, stopped supporting the intelligence news for a strike against Russia, and spoke about the possibility of deporting tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees who fled the war.
Zelensky shows his openness to signing a mineral rights agreement with the United States, but it is unclear whether Trump will extract concessions from Ukraine and accept Russian President Vladimir Putin in broader peace negotiations.
