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Ukraine would need to accept Russian control of some territory as part of a peace deal, the US’s top diplomat said on Monday on the eve of talks between Washington and Kyiv in Saudi Arabia.
Secretary of state Marco Rubio told journalists on his way to high-level talks in Jeddah that “the Russians can’t conquer all of Ukraine, and obviously it’ll be very difficult for Ukraine in any reasonable time period to sort of force the Russians back all the way to where they were in 2014”.
Rubio’s comments, which allude to Ukraine’s borders before Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, eight years before Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, highlight how the Trump administration has taken a far tougher stance with Kyiv than Joe Biden’s government.
Tuesday’s talks in Saudi Arabia come at a pivotal moment, about 10 days after a public spat in the White House between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump over the origins of Russia’s invasion and the future of US aid as Washington tries to broker an end to the conflict.
Trump has since cut off military aid and intelligence sharing to Kyiv, but Zelenskyy has made some overtures to the White House over the past week, including a pledge to sign a deal giving the US access to Ukraine’s critical minerals, causing some of the friction to ease.
Zelenskyy said on Telegram on Monday evening that “the Ukrainian position at the meeting will be absolutely constructive”. He added that he had spoken with Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, about “the steps and conditions that could end the war and make peace reliable and lasting”.
Speaking to reporters on his flight to Saudi Arabia on Monday, Rubio said he hoped military aid could be restored.
“I think the notion of the pause in aid, broadly, is something I hope we can resolve. Obviously what happens tomorrow will be key to that,” he said.
Officials briefed on preparations for the negotiations in Saudi Arabia said Kyiv was set to propose a partial ceasefire with Russia for long-range drone and missile strikes and combat operations in the Black Sea, in the hope that the talks’ progress would lead Washington to reverse its decision to freeze intelligence sharing and weaponry supplies.
Trump has faced criticism domestically and internationally for putting too much pressure on Ukraine to make concessions and giving an advantage to Russia in the talks over a peace deal that Washington is running on parallel tracks. Russian and Ukrainian officials have not launched direct negotiations.
While Trump threatened Russia with additional sanctions and tariffs last week, he has remained publicly critical of Zelenskyy — including calling for elections in Ukraine that could lead to his ousting. Speaking to reporters on Air Force One as he returned to Washington from Florida on Sunday, he kept up the pressure on Kyiv.
“I want them to want peace, right?” the US president said.
“Well, right now they haven’t shown it to the extent that they should. I think right now they haven’t, but I think they will be, and I think it’s going to become evident over the next two or three days,” he said.
Earlier on Monday, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told Trump he wanted to see “positive” talks between top US and Ukrainian officials that would pave the way for a resumption of Washington’s military aid and intelligence sharing with Kyiv.
“The prime minister said he hoped there would be a positive outcome to the talks that would enable US aid and intelligence sharing to be restarted,” a Downing Street spokesperson said on Monday. The White House has not released its account of the conversation.
Starmer has positioned himself as one of Europe’s crucial players in the conflict, helping together with French President Emmanuel Macron to smooth Zelenskyy’s relations with Trump and to assemble a coalition of European powers willing to deploy troops to Ukraine to guarantee a peace deal.
A Downing Street spokesperson said the prime minister told Trump that UK officials had spoken to Ukrainian representatives at the weekend, receiving assurances from Kyiv that they “remain committed to a lasting peace”.
On Saturday Starmer will host a virtual meeting of a group of mainly European and Commonwealth countries willing to help secure a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow.
