US Secretary of State calls for accelerating peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressed the need to accelerate peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, saying, “We’ve no time to waste”.
This came in statements he made on Sunday to CBS News regarding the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations to stop the war between the two countries that has been raging since 2022.
Rubio touched on the recent peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, noting the need for “a degree of patience, but at the same time, we have no time to waste”.
The US Secretary of State issued an indirect warning to Russia not to raise “unrealistic demands”.
He added, “We’re trying to find out whether they the Russians are stalling us or not, and we will know the answer very soon”.
Rubio indicated that the Russians and Ukrainians agreed to exchange ideas regarding a ceasefire.
He continued, “If there are realistic and rational ideas, we will understand that we are making progress… However, if there are conditions that we know in advance are unrealistic, we will resort to a different assessment”.
Istanbul hosted peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine on Thursday and Friday, which concluded with an agreement to exchange 2,000 prisoners between the two countries.
On May 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed resuming direct negotiations with Ukraine without preconditions on May 15 in Istanbul, asking his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to host the new round.
For his part, President Erdoğan affirmed Türkiye’s readiness to host negotiations to achieve a just and lasting peace, while the Ukrainian government welcomed the move.
