Marco Rubio says Ukraine must make land concessions to end war with Russia

Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on Monday that Ukraine would need to make territorial concessions as part of any agreement to end the war with Russia. Rubio made these remarks while en route to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he was scheduled to meet with senior Ukrainian officials.

This trip follows a contentious White House meeting between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ten days earlier. The meeting resulted in the Trump administration halting military aid to Ukraine after a dispute over security guarantees in a proposed deal concerning Ukraine’s natural resources.

“The most important thing that we have to leave here with is a strong sense that Ukraine is prepared to do difficult things, like the Russians are going to have to do difficult things to end this conflict or at least pause it in some way, shape or form,” Rubio told reporters, according to the New York Times.

While he did not provide specific details of a potential agreement, Rubio strressed that diplomacy would require both sides to make concessions: “I think both sides need to come to an understanding that there’s no military solution to this situation,” Rubio said. “The Russians can’t conquer all of Ukraine, and obviously it’ll be very difficult for Ukraine in any reasonable time period to sort of force the Russians back all the way to where they were in 2014.”

He also stressed the importance of future negotiations in determining what Russia might be willing to concede. “We don’t know how far apart they truly are,” he added.

Discussions on Tuesday are not expected to focus on the proposed agreement involving Ukrainian natural resources, which President Trump had described as compensation for U.S. military support since Russia’s full-scale invasion three years ago.

Trump has suggested that an American financial interest in Ukraine’s fossil fuels and rare-earth minerals could serve as a form of security for the country.

Despite the U.S. recently reducing intelligence sharing with Ukraine, including satellite imagery, Rubio stated that Washington was still providing Kyiv with critical information to help in its defense against Russian attacks. He also dismissed concerns that Ukraine might lose access to Starlink, the satellite internet service owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Trump has also threatened additional sanctions against Russia due to its continued military operations. Rubio said that the U.S. is attempting to use its leverage to push Moscow toward negotiations with Ukraine.