Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was sworn in on Tuesday, has said the war in Ukraine needs to end and that the new Trump administration would work to bring it to a close, although it’s still unclear how that will happen.
On the campaign trail, President Trump vowed to bring the war to an end within “24 hours,” but fighting continues to rage along the frontlines, and Russia and Ukraine traded heavy drone attacks overnight Monday into Tuesday.
Ahead of his swearing-in ceremony, Rubio was asked in an interview about Trump’s promise and the situation in Ukraine. “The promise the President made, really if you look at it, is it’s going to be the priority – it’s going to be the official policy of the United States that the war in Ukraine needs to come to an end. It is a stalemate,” he said.
“We are going to engage in making it end in a way that is sustainable, meaning we don’t just want the conflict to end and then restart in two, three, or four years down the road. We want to bring stability,” Rubio added.
Rubio, who had been incredibly hawkish during his time in Congress, was a staunch supporter of the proxy war following the Russian invasion, but his rhetoric began to change in 2024, and in recent months, he has echoed President Trump’s calls to bring it to a close.
Rubio previously said both Ukraine and Russia must make concessions to end the war, but it’s unclear what kind of deal the US might offer Moscow. Russia clearly has the upper hand in the conflict, and time is on its side, meaning it’s unlikely to back down on its core demands, which include a commitment for Ukraine to stay out of NATO and continued control of the territory it has captured and annexed.
Yuri Ushakov, an aide to the Kremlin, said Tuesday that there had been “no specific proposals” sent by the Trump administration.
