U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that the discussions between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin made sufficient headway to set up a session with Ukrainian and European leaders. Speaking on CBS, Rubio noted the outcome of Friday’s summit warranted the next round of talks.
Rubio explained that in order to secure an end to the conflict, both Kyiv and Moscow would have to compromise, stressing that Washington could not necessarily deliver a guaranteed peace arrangement. European officials will accompany Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to Washington on Monday to join Trump, as the president pushes Ukraine toward a rapid settlement following his meeting with Putin.
“I’m not saying we’re on the verge of a peace deal, but I am saying that we saw movement, enough movement to justify a follow-up meeting with Zelenskiy and the Europeans,” Rubio told the “Face the Nation” show.
His remarks were among the earliest official accounts from an American participant at the Alaska summit with Putin. Trump himself posted online afterward, writing, “BIG PROGRESS ON RUSSIA. STAY TUNED!” without elaborating further.
In a separate interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Rubio said the negotiations had refined the focus to several core matters. These, he said, included finalizing borders, arranging lasting security guarantees for Kyiv, and determining which military partnerships Ukraine could pursue. “There’s a lot of work that remains,” he added.
Putin, for his part, has insisted that NATO membership for Ukraine is off the table. NATO’s Article 5 serves as a collective defense clause, requiring members to defend any ally under attack.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to Moscow, told CNN that the American side secured “the concession that the United States could offer Article Five-like protection.”
When pressed for specifics, he explained, “the United States is potentially prepared to be able to give Article Five security guarantees, but not from NATO, directly from the United States, and other European countries.” He noted this would be one of the issues taken up in Washington on Monday.
Reports from insiders said Trump and Putin examined proposals under which Russia would return small parts of occupied Ukrainian territory, while Ukraine might in turn give up a heavily fortified zone in the east and lock in the existing front lines elsewhere.
“We may not like it, it may not be pleasant, it may be distasteful, but in order for there to be an end of the war, there are things Russia wants that it cannot get, and there are things Ukraine wants that it’s not going to get,” said Rubio.
In another appearance on ABC, Rubio emphasized that if no agreement were achieved, existing U.S. sanctions on Russia would stay in force, and new ones could also be imposed. He recalled that Zelenskiy’s last White House visit in February ended with shouting, but insisted on CBS that the Europeans traveling to Washington now were not there to protect the Ukrainian leader.
“They’re not coming here tomorrow to keep Zelenskiy from being bullied. They’re coming here tomorrow because we’ve been working with the Europeans,” he said.
“We invited them to come.”
{Matzav.com}
