U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that Kyiv’s proposed sky and sea ceasefire “has promise” ahead of today’s crunch talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, but warned that he expects to hear what concessions Ukraine is willing to make to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
Rubio, America’s top diplomat, will meet a Ukrainian delegation led by Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s head of office, Andriy Yermak, as Ukraine bids to put relations between Kyiv and Washington back on track.
“The most important thing is that we have to leave here with a strong sense that Ukraine is prepared to do difficult things, like the Russians are going to have to do difficult things, to end this conflict or at least pause it in some way, shape or form,” said Rubio.
He added: “I think both sides need to come to an understanding that there’s no military solution to this situation—the Russians can’t conquer all of Ukraine, and obviously it’ll be very difficult for Ukraine in any reasonable time period to force the Russians back all the way to where they were in 2014.”
Zelenskyy, who is in Saudi Arabia but will not be present at the meeting, promised that Ukraine was “fully committed to constructive dialogue” and that he was seeking “a practical result.”
Ukraine is expected to propose a partial ceasefire that will cover the Black Sea and sky, including long-range strikes; furthermore, plans for a prisoner exchange are also set to be presented.
Responding to what Kyiv could offer, Rubio said: “I’m not saying that alone is enough but it’s the kind of concession you would need to see in order to end the conflict.”
The high-stakes talks come during an all-time low in Ukrainian-American relations and less than two weeks after Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s disastrous visit to the Oval Office. Since then, U.S. President Donald Trump has pulled the plug on military aid and intelligence sharing.
However, hopes are quietly building that U.S. aid could be resumed and that the two countries could sign a minerals deal in the coming days.
Rubio has already hinted that aid could resume should Kyiv make concessions, saying that the freeze “came about because we felt that they were not committed to any sort of peace process.”
He added: “If that changes, obviously our posture can change.”
