U.S. President Donald Trump will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, aiming to achieve a halt to hostilities in Ukraine, but a comprehensive solution to the war will take more time.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters at the State Department on Thursday, Ukrinform reports, referring to Reuters.
Rubio noted that achieving peace would require negotiations on a range of issues, including security guarantees, territorial disputes and claims, and the goals of both the Ukrainian and Russian sides.
“All these things will be part of a comprehensive thing. But I think the President’s (Donald Trump – ed.) hope is to achieve some stoppage of fighting so that those conversations can happen,” said Rubio.
The State Secretary said that the longer wars go on, the harder they are to end.
“And even as I speak … there are changes happening in the battlefield which have an impact on what one side views as leverage or the other. So that’s the reality of ongoing fighting, which is why a ceasefire is so critical,” he said.
At the same time, Rubio emphasized that while the United States would do everything possible to support efforts toward peace, the final outcome would ultimately depend on Ukraine and Russia.
“But we’ll see what’s possible tomorrow. Let’s see how the talks go. And we’re hopeful. We want there to be a peace. We’re going to do everything we can to achieve one, but ultimately it’ll be up to Ukraine and Russia to agree to one,” he said.
Rubio said preparations for the meeting were going “very fast,” as it had been put together very quickly. He said he believed Trump had spoken by phone to Putin four times and “felt it was important to now speak to him in person and look him in the eye and figure out what was possible and what isn’t.”
“He (Trump – ed.) sees an opportunity to talk about achieving peace. He’s going to pursue it, and we’ll know tomorrow at some point, as the President said, probably very early in that meeting, whether something is possible or not. We hope it is,” said Rubio.
As earlier reported, the BBC News Russian cited a Kremlin aide on Thursday confirming that the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will begin on Friday, August 15, at 11:30 local time in Alaska (22:30 Kyiv time).
Photo credit: President’s Office
Source: Trump hopes to achieve halt to fighting in Ukraine during talks with Putin – Rubio
