The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the topic of the first meeting between US and Russian representatives on February 18 in Saudi Arabia was whether Russia was interested in ending “this conflict”. At the next meeting, the date of which is still unknown, they will discuss under what conditions this is possible.
He stated this in an interview with Breitbart.
According to Rubio, during the first negotiations with Russia, the Russian side stated that it was ready for a ceasefire, but only "under certain conditions". At that time, the American and Russian delegations did not discuss under which conditions. This will be the topic of the next meeting.
“So the next step is to meet with them again at some point, with the right group of people in the room, and start outlining what Russia needs to stop the war,” Rubio said.
He also stressed that the same questions should be asked of Ukraine, because, according to him, it is impossible to end the war unless both sides agree to it. Rubio believes that both sides should be brought to the negotiating table, "starting with Russia".
“So, whether it takes days or weeks, we will begin this process. It may not work, but why should anyone criticize President Trump for wanting to end a war that has cost billions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of lives, and enormous and ongoing human suffering,” the Secretary of State concluded.
- On February 18, Russia and the United States held their first talks in Saudi Arabia. The meeting lasted about 4.5 hours. Then the United States and Russia agreed to create negotiating groups to end the war in Ukraine. The Russian representative said that the talks went “not bad”, but “it is difficult to say yet that the Russian Federation and the United States are getting closer”.
- The US President Donald Trump declared on February 22 that representatives of the US and Russia will meet again in Saudi Arabia on February 25.
- Russian propagandists, citing Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, wrote that preparations were not underway for a meeting of Russian and US delegations in Saudi Arabia on February 25. Ryabkov claimed on February 22 that the meeting was planned for “the next two weeks”, but did not specify a specific date.
- The date of the meeting between Putin and Trump is also unknown. At the first meeting in Saudi Arabia, they did not agree on it. Trump said that it could take place "very soon", the Kremlin did not rule out that it could happen by the end of February.
- Trump denied media reports that he would visit Russia on May 9, 2025.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine please follow us on X.