Ukraine must be prepared to do 'difficult things' to end war, Rubio says, ahead of high-stakes talks with US
Secretary of State Marco Rubio landed in Saudi Arabia on Monday ahead of high-stakes talks on Tuesday between U.S. and Ukrainian officials on ending the country's war with Russia.
Rubio said the U.S. wants to hear directly from Ukraine what concessions it is willing to make to come to an agreement to stop Russia's brutal invasion.
"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 as he flew from the U.S. to Jeddah.
Ukraine is set to propose a pause on long-range air strikes and attacks at sea, a source close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed to ABC News.
Tuesday's sit-down will be the first time both sides have met since the Oval Office clash between President Donald Trump and Zelenskyy, after which Trump accused Zelenskyy of not being ready for peace.
Since the dust-up, the Trump administration's paused military aid and certain intelligence sharing to Kyiv. Meanwhile, Russian strikes on Ukraine have intensified in recent days and Ukrainian forces are struggling to prevent a serious military setback in an area of Russian territory they seized last year.
Rubio previously expressed a hawkish view toward Russia and strong support for the U.S. assisting Ukraine, saying in 2023: "I don't think if we just stop helping Ukraine, that the result is going to be peace ... the result is going to be a slaughter." Now, he's tasked with defending the Trump White House "America First" foreign policy missive and shift toward Moscow.
Rubio on Monday expressed optimism that the upcoming discussion will be a "positive interaction" and hoped issues on military aid could be resolved.
"I imagine that they'll raise that, and I'm sure that'll be addressed," he said. "And hopefully, we'll have a good meeting, and we'll have good news to announce on that front. I can assure you this, we will not be providing military aid to the Russians."
On intelligence sharing, Rubio stressed that defense intelligence information continues to be shared with Ukraine. Trump on Sunday said they were "just about" ready to lift the intelligence restrictions.
Zelenskyy was in Washington late last month to sign a deal that would provide the United States access to rare earth minerals in Ukraine. But that deal was never finalized as Zelenskyy left Washington shortly after the tense episode at the White House.
Secretary Rubio said the mineral deal is continuing to be worked on but is not the primary focus of Tuesday’s talks.
"Tomorrow can be successful without it," Rubio told reporters. "It's certainly a deal the president wants to see done but it doesn't necessarily have to happen tomorrow."
Zelenskyy was also in Saudi Arabia to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Rubio was asked if he would speak directly with Zelenskyy at one point this week, and said "it's possible, but that's not part of our engagement tomorrow."
"The important point in this meeting is to establish clearly their intentions, their desire, as they've said publicly now numerous times, to reach a point where peace is possible," Rubio said of Tuesday's delegation. "And then we'll have to determine how far they are from the Russian position, which we don't know yet either. And then once you understand where both sides truly are, it gives you a sense of how big the divide is and how hard it's going to be."
Trump recently said he expects to meet with Russia's Vladimir Putin in Saudi Arabia, though Rubio said "there's no meeting planned" between the two leaders right now.
ABC News' William Gretsky and Patrick Reevell contributed to this report.
