Shorouk Express
“This is serious stuff, okay? This is not Mean Girls. This is not some episode of some television show. This is very serious,” Rubio said. “People will die in this war. They died yesterday. And sadly, unless there’s a ceasefire tonight, they will die tomorrow. The president wants that to stop. That’s what he’s interested in here. And that’s why we came here.”
Ahead of the talks, Rubio hinted on Monday evening that aid could start flowing again depending on the outcome of the upcoming talks, saying the U.S. “could have good news to announce on that front” — but added that Ukraine would have to give up some of the territory Russia has seized since 2014 for any deal to end the war.
Ukraine has long ruled out any ceasefire agreement that includes giving up land occupied by Russia, including the Crimean Peninsula, which Russian President Vladimir Putin seized in 2014. The Ukrainian government has instead called for a “just peace” that would see the Kremlin pay reparations for its grinding three-year war.
Even though Marko Rubio before the meeting said that Ukraine would need to make territorial concessions for peace, sides did not discuss territorial concessions during today’s meeting, a Ukrainian official familiar with negotiations told POLITICO.
A different official, Daria Zarivna, who is the Ukrainian president’s office advisor and a member of Ukrainian delegation said Ukraine has demonstrated that “it is we who want peace the most. And we are taking steps to move towards ending the war. Russia should do the same.”
Hours before delegations were due to meet in Saudi Arabia, Ukraine launched its largest drone attack on Moscow since the start of the war with Russia on Monday night.
