Peace in Ukraine hinges on Kyiv, Moscow, Rubio says ahead of Alaska summit

Any peace agreement to end the Russia-Ukraine war will ultimately depend on both countries agreeing to one, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on August 14.

“We’re hopeful. We want there to be peace, we’re going to do everything we can to achieve one, but ultimately, it'll be up to Ukraine and Russia to agree to one,” Rubio told reporters at the State Department during a signing ceremony with Paraguayan Foreign Minister Ruben Ramirez Lezcano, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media. 

Rubio said President Donald Trump hopes to secure a “stoppage of fighting” at the summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15 to allow talks on key issues. 

“To achieve a peace, I think we all recognize it will have to be some conversation about security guarantees. There have to be some conversation about territorial disputes and claims and what they’re fighting over,” Rubio said. “All these things will be part of a comprehensive thing. But I think the president's hope is to achieve some stoppage of fighting so that those conversations can happen. These are highly technical things that take some time to work out.”

According to Rubio, Trump has spoken to Putin multiple times by phone this year and now wants to meet him face-to-face to “look him in the eye” and assess the possibilities for peace.

“He wants that war to end. He’s going to do everything he possibly can, and he sees an opportunity to talk about achieving peace. He's going to pursue it. We’ll know tomorrow at some point, as the president said probably very early in that meeting, whether something is possible or not, we hope it is,” he said.

Trump and Putin are scheduled to meet in Alaska at 11:30 a.m. local time (19:30 GMT) in what will be the first talks between sitting US and Russian presidents since the war began in February 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on August 13 that Trump had expressed readiness to provide his country with security guarantees.

Trump has previously said that Russia and Ukraine would swap territories as part of a peace deal and warned Putin of “very severe consequences” if he does not agree to end the war at the summit.

By Sabina Mammadli