US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Photo: Media Punch
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that any peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia would require difficult decisions, including territorial concessions by Ukraine.
This was reported by The New York Times. It is noted that Rubio made this statement during a flight to Saudi Arabia, where he is to hold talks with Ukrainian officials.
“The most important thing that we will leave here with is a strong sense that Ukraine is prepared to do difficult things, just as the Russians will have to make difficult decisions to end this conflict, or at least to suspend it in some way,” the secretary of state said.
He also stressed that there is no military solution to the war, because “Russia will not be able to conquer the whole of Ukraine, and it will be very difficult for Ukraine to force the Russians to return to where they were in 2014”.
At the same time, Rubio did not disclose the possible details of a future peace agreement, but noted that an important issue would be what concessions Russia is willing to make.
According to the NYT, Tuesday’s talks are unlikely to touch on the proposed deal on Ukrainian natural resources, which US President Donald Trump had earlier called a possible compensation for military support for Ukraine.
