US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday warned of “consequences,” including the potential imposition of new sanctions on Russia, if no peace deal is reached on Ukraine, ahead of a key meeting at the White House.
“If we’re not going to be able to reach an agreement here at any point, then there are going to be consequences,” he told US broadcaster NBC.
“Not only the consequences of the war continuing but the consequences of all those sanctions continuing and potentially new sanctions on top of it as well.”
The United States will keep trying to create a scenario to help end Russia’s war in Ukraine, but that might not be possible, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS on Sunday.
“If peace is not going to be possible here and this is just going to continue on as a war, people will continue to die by the thousands … we may unfortunately wind up there, but we don’t want to wind up there,” Rubio said in an interview with “Face the Nation.”
European leaders will accompany Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to meet Donald Trump in Washington on Monday, seeking to bolster him as the US president presses Ukraine to accept a quick peace deal after Trump’s meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Friday.
“There are things that were discussed as part of this meeting that are potentials for breakthroughs, that are potential for progress,” said Rubio, adding that topics for discussion would include security guarantees for Ukraine.
According to sources, Trump and Putin discussed proposals for Russia to relinquish tiny pockets of occupied Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine ceding a swathe of fortified land in the east and freezing the front lines elsewhere.
Rubio said both sides would need to make concessions if a peace deal were to be concluded.