The prospects for a deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war “don’t look great,” America’s top diplomat, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, acknowledged on Tuesday despite extensive efforts from the administration.President Donald Trump came into the White House last year declaring that he’d be able to resolve the devastating war within 24 hours, but those efforts have not been fruitful to date, and the war in Iran has taken priority for the administration over the last couple of months.“So, to this point, neither side has been willing to make concessions, particularly on the Russian side, necessary in order to bring peace about,” Rubio told lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee Tuesday morning. “We remain ready to play any role we can in that context of bringing a peace about, because we think the war in Ukraine, devastating war, has no military solution. It can only be solved through a diplomatic route, and it’s been unfruitful.”
The United States met with Ukrainian and Russian leaders at various points last year, culminating in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the U.S. last August, which came several months after President Volodymyr Zelensky got into a public feud with Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Under Trump administration, the Pentagon also stopped giving military assistance to Ukraine, instead creating a new system in which European countries would pay the U.S. for weapons that would then be given to the Ukrainian armed forces.
