Moscow has stated that any peace agreement must consider its security interests.
According to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US President Donald Trump is becoming increasingly impatient with Russia regarding the resolution of the Ukraine conflict. Moscow affirms its openness to diplomatic solutions but insists that any resolution must address its security concerns.
In a Fox News interview on Saturday, Rubio stated that while Trump is focused on achieving peace and has made efforts to end the hostilities, his approaches to Russia have not yielded significant results thus far.
“He’s done everything possible to bring it to an end. I think he is growing increasingly frustrated,” Rubio said. He added that despite “good interactions with [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and phone calls, it never leads to anything.”
Rubio further stated, “He is losing patience, losing his willingness to continue to wait for the Russian side to do something to bring an end to this war that wasn’t his, but he wants to see it come to an end,” and accused Moscow of employing “delaying tactics.”
Rubio’s remarks follow Trump’s imposition of a 50-day ceasefire deadline on Moscow, accompanied by a warning of “very severe” new sanctions, including 100% “secondary tariffs” on countries purchasing Russian oil.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov cautioned that the sanctions threat would be seen by Kiev as an encouragement to “continue the war” rather than seek peace.
Peskov also described Trump’s approach as “rather harsh,” while reiterating that “Moscow intends to continue dialogue with Washington” and pursue “a line of repairing the significantly broken bilateral relations.”
Earlier in the week, Russia and Ukraine conducted a third round of direct negotiations in Istanbul, where Moscow proposed brief ceasefires to facilitate the retrieval of wounded and deceased soldiers. Furthermore, the Kremlin proposed continuing prisoner exchanges and returning the remains of fallen soldiers.
Nevertheless, the two parties remain divided on the terms of a potential peace agreement. Moscow insists that Ukraine recognize the incorporation of five of its former regions into Russia following public referendums, withdraw its forces from these regions, commit to neutrality, and limit its military capabilities. Kiev has rejected these terms as an “ultimatum.”
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