The Secretary of State added that even if the United States is “ready to do everything we can to facilitate this and ensure that … that (the war) ends in a lasting and fair way”, if it is “not possible, if we are so distant that it will not happen, then I think that the president is probably at a time when he will say, well, we have finished.”
Rubio had traveled in the French capital alongside special envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg for cease-fire talks Thursday with French President Emmanuel Macron and high-level delegations from Germany, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. Macron’s office described meetings as the start of a “positive process in which Europeans are involved” and that discussions would continue in London next week.
After his return from his third meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin a few days earlier, Witkoff said that Russia’s plan for an agreement depends on “five Ukraine territories”. Although he did not specify what regions, it is likely that he was referring to Crimea – that Moscow seized in violation of international law in 2014 – and four other Ukrainian regions that Russia illegally annexed after dummy referendums in 2022 but does not completely control.
Kyiv has repeatedly rejected against the acceptance of renouncing land in Russia and has called on the international community to respect its territorial integrity. But Macron’s office told journalists that any ceasefire agreement must “start with reality” and noted that “a certain number of territories are currently occupied by Russia”.
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