US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says ‘tremendous’ progress has been made in meetings with Ukrainian and European officials on a resolution to stop the war.
The United States says it has made significant progress in drawing up a plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war during talks with Ukrainian and European officials in Switzerland.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that “considerable progress” has been made on a US proposal to end Russia’s nearly four-year war in Ukraine, although he provided few details.
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“We’ve really made progress, so I feel very optimistic that we’re going to get there in a very reasonable time, very soon,” Rubio told reporters at the U.S. Mission in Geneva.
Rubio said questions remained to be worked out, including NATO’s role and security guarantees for Ukraine, but his team had reduced the unresolved issues to a 28-point peace plan for Ukraine backed by US President Donald Trump.
“And we have achieved this to a large extent today,” he said.
The head of the Ukrainian delegation, Andriy Yermak, echoed Rubio’s sentiments, telling reporters that they had made “very good progress” and were “moving toward a just and lasting peace that the Ukrainian people deserve”.
Earlier, Trump had said that Ukraine was not grateful for US efforts to end the war, leading Ukrainian officials to emphasize their gratitude for the US president’s support.
“Ukraine ‘leadership’ has shown no gratitude for our efforts and Europe continues to buy oil from Russia,” Trump posted on his social media sites Sunday morning.
Moments later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Twitter that his country was “grateful to the United States and personally to President Trump” for assistance in “saving the lives of the Ukrainian people”.
CBS news channel quoted US and Ukrainian officials as saying that Zelensky could visit the US in the coming days for direct talks with Trump.
Trump had given Ukraine until Nov. 27 to approve his 28-point plan, but Kiev wants changes to a draft that accepts many of Russia’s radical demands, including requiring the invader country to leave the region, cut its military and pledge never to join NATO.
The peace plan has caused concern in Kyiv and European capitals. Zelensky has said that his country may face a stark choice between standing up for its sovereign rights and preserving the US support it needs.
Asked if he was confident a deal could be reached by Thursday, as the US president had demanded, Rubio said, “The timeline is we want to get it done as quickly as possible”.
Rubio called the U.S. proposal a “living, breathing document” that will keep changing. He also said that any final product – once ready – would have to be presented to Moscow.
“Obviously, the Russians get the vote here,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the blueprint could “lay the foundation” for a final peace deal, but threatened to seize more land if Ukraine walks away from the talks.
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