Rubio says work under way to resolve ‘very difficult’ Donetsk issue in Ukraine peace talks
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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifying at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Jan 28.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- US-mediated talks aim to resolve the Donetsk territorial dispute, a key obstacle in ending Russia's war in Ukraine, says Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
- Putin demands Ukraine cede the 20% of Donetsk it controls, while Kyiv refuses territorial concessions, facing pressure from the Trump administration for a peace deal.
- US security guarantees for Ukraine are contingent on reaching a peace agreement with Russia, although Rubio notes Russian agreement is needed.
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WASHINGTON - There is active work under way to reconcile the territorial issue of Donetsk at US-mediated talks to end Russia's war in Ukraine, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Jan 28, describing the disagreement as a key remaining issue that is “very difficult” to resolve.
President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said Russia will take all of Ukraine’s Donbas region, of which Moscow’s forces control 90 per cent, by force unless Kyiv gives it up in a peace deal.
Donetsk is part of the Donbas region.
Kyiv has said it will not gift Russia territory that Moscow has failed to win on the battlefield.
Polls show little appetite among Ukrainians for territorial concessions.
“It’s still a bridge we have to cross. It’s still a gap, but at least we’ve been able to narrow down the issue set to one central one, and it will probably be a very difficult one,” Mr Rubio told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
US may join talks
The Russian leader’s demand that Ukraine surrender the 20 per cent it still holds of Donetsk, about 5,000 sq km, has proven a major stumbling block to any deal. Most countries recognize Donetsk as part of Ukraine. Putin says Donetsk is part of Russia’s “historical lands.”
The top US diplomat said there might be a US presence in the follow-up Ukraine talks, but President Donald Trump’s top envoys, Mr Steve Witkoff and Mr Jared Kushner, who had taken part in the previous round of talks last weekend in Abu Dhabi, will not be participating.
The talks last weekend, which included a rare face-to-face engagement between Russian and Ukrainian officials, ended without a deal,
More discussions were expected on Feb 1 in Abu Dhabi, said a US official who spoke to reporters at the time.
Kyiv is under mounting Trump administration pressure to make concessions to reach a deal to end Europe’s deadliest and most destructive conflict since World War II, triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Rubio was also asked if security guarantees for Ukraine were agreed to by the US and Ukrainian sides.
“I think you could argue they’re agreed to from our side of the equation. There’s obviously a Russian dynamic at play here. And of course, any security guarantees would come into play after the conflict would end,” Mr Rubio said.
The Financial Times reported on Jan 27
