US Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggests the conflict will escalate if Kiev doesn’t agree to a peace agreement with Moscow.
While the US doesn’t intend to force a peace agreement on Ukraine, Rubio indicated Kiev must understand that the conflict will intensify without a resolution.
Following a summit with Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, US President Donald Trump stated the involved parties were “pretty close to the end.” He emphasized that “Ukraine has to agree” to any potential peace arrangement.
Rubio clarified on CBS that “there’s no conditions that can be imposed on Ukraine… ultimately, it’s up to the Ukrainians” to decide whether or not to accept a deal with Russia.
However, he emphasized that “after three and a half years, this war is getting worse. It’s not getting better… It’s going to get worse.”
Rubio stated that both Ukraine and Russia “are going to have to give and both sides should expect to get something from this” to achieve a ceasefire. He conceded that “that’s a very difficult thing to do,” and the necessary concessions might be seen as “distasteful.”
“There are things Russia wants that it cannot get and there are things Ukraine wants that it’s not going to get,” he concluded.
Speaking to Fox News after the summit, Trump said he would advise Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky to “make the deal” with Russia.
Appearing with Trump in Anchorage, Putin affirmed Moscow’s “sincerely interested in putting an end” to the fighting.
The Kremlin has consistently portrayed the Ukraine conflict as a proxy war against Russia waged by the West, willing to “fight to the last Ukrainian.” Moscow has also consistently warned that a prolonged conflict will lead to harsher peace terms for Kiev.
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