U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that Ukraine and Russia should remain focused on ending the war between them, speaking to reporters during a visit to Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Asked about a possible meeting involving U.S. President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Chinese President Xi Jinping to negotiate an end to the four-year-old conflict, Rubio said discussions are underway. He added that he did not know whether such a summit had been finalized, but stressed that Trump wants the war in Ukraine and Russia to end.
Rubio arrived in Samarkand on Sunday evening for meetings with senior officials of the C5+1 grouping, which brings together the United States and the Muslim-majority post-Soviet states of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Trump hosted C5 leaders at the White House last November.
“We see nothing good coming from this war,” Rubio said. “We see a lot of downside to it, including the very real risk of escalation and spread of this thing… into another country because of a failed sabotage attack, because of drones that are hit with electronic warfare and they wander into a neighbouring country.”
The United States has been trying to mediate a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine. Trump has since secured a diesel import agreement with Russia and waived some sanctions on Moscow, steps he said should keep the Kremlin at the negotiating table.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy criticized the moves. A fresh Russian air strike killed a woman in Kyiv overnight, also striking a subway station and damaging a 25-storey residential building.
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