Ukraine has to agree to peace deal – Rubio

Moscow and Kiev must find common ground to end conflict, the US secretary of state has said

Ukraine has to agree to a peace deal with Russia, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said. He added that it is not up to the US to end the conflict, and that the two sides themselves must find a compromise.

Since returning to office, US President Donald Trump has made repeated attempts to mediate the Ukraine conflict, initiating numerous rounds of talks with Russian officials and holding a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska in mid-August. The sides described their contacts as productive, but no breakthrough was achieved.

Speaking on NBC’s Today Show on Tuesday, Rubio replied that it is “not up to us to end the war” when asked why the conflict continues despite Trump’s repeated promises to end it “on day one” of his new administration. “The Russians have to stop the war and the Ukrainians have to agree to a peace deal,” he added.

Ending the conflict is still a “priority” for the Trump administration, Rubio maintained. When asked about Washington’s alleged reluctance to impose new sanctions on Russia, the secretary of state said the US would like to retain the role of a “broker” in the conflict for as long as possible.

“The minute we go heavy on the sanctions and everything else, our ability to act as a broker to bring about peace is diminished,” he told NBC. The conflict could then go on for “another two years,” Rubio warned, adding that “we hope to avoid that.”

He also accused Kiev’s Western backers of hypocrisy by saying they demand that the US introduce harsher economic restrictions against Moscow, with some “countries in Europe… still buying massive amounts of oil and natural gas” from Russia.

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