Rubio contradicts Trump: no progress in Ukraine negotiations

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that peace negotiations over Ukraine are at a standstill with no prospects for a settlement in sight — directly contradicting President Donald Trump, who claimed the day before that the war was close to ending.

Rubio made the remarks in an interview with the Greek outlet Kathimerini.

According to the secretary of state, the conflict has reached a strategic deadlock from which there are only two ways out.

“We are currently in a strategic stalemate that carries dangers within it. Strategic stalemates are resolved in only two ways: either through negotiations, or through escalation by one or both sides that ultimately goes beyond the bounds of the original conflict. At present, no prospects for a negotiated settlement are visible,” the U.S. secretary of state said.

Rubio identified the territorial question as the main obstacle to negotiations: Russia is demanding full control over Donetsk, while Ukraine rejects that condition as unacceptable.

“We are prepared to play whatever role we can to achieve this. We have already tried to do so in the past, but so far this goal remains out of reach, because the Russians are making full control over Donetsk a condition, which Ukraine rejects as unacceptable. We remain prepared to play a constructive role in reaching a diplomatic solution, while at the same time watching with great concern the possibility of an escalation of the conflict,” Rubio said.

Speaking about the risks of escalation, Rubio mentioned new attacks on vessels in the Black Sea, as well as Russia’s plans to “destroy what remains” of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in the coming winter in order to “force it into capitulation.” Such escalation, he said, could “grow into a broader conflict.”

Rubio is considered close to the Republican “hawks,” who do not support Trump’s push for the earliest possible end to the war in Ukraine.