US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that"both sides must make concessions" to end the war in Ukraine.
"We want to finally reach a peace agreement that ends this war, so that Ukraine can move on with its life and rebuild its country, and be assured that this will never happen again," Rubio said in an interview broadcast by the American CBS channel. He noted that achieving this requires"sacrifice" from both sides.
Regarding the Alaska summit between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Rubio explained:"There were matters discussed during this meeting that represent opportunities for breakthroughs. The details will be discussed with Zelensky and other European leaders on Monday, as the administration works to narrow the gap between the two sides."
He added,"We need to make enough progress so that we can sit down with President Zelenskyy and President Putin in one place, which is what President Zelenskyy demanded, and reach a final agreement that ends this war."
When asked whether the United States would demand Russia's withdrawal from Ukrainian territory as part of an agreement, the foreign minister acknowledged that both sides would have to make concessions to reach an agreement that ends the conflict.
"If one side gets everything they want, that's called surrender, and that's not what we're close to achieving, because neither side here is about to surrender, or anything close to it," he explained.
Rubio identified several areas where agreement must be reached, including details of security guarantees for Ukraine, the issue of territory and its borders, and the issue of the country's reconstruction.
The US Secretary of State said that after the meeting with Putin,"We felt, and I agree, that there was sufficient progress - not great progress - but sufficient progress in those talks to allow us to move to the next stage."
He revealed: "I'm not saying we're close to a peace agreement, but I am saying we've seen enough progress. Enough progress to warrant a follow-up meeting with Zelensky and the Europeans, enough progress for us to devote more time to this."
