The main obstacle in the Ukraine peace talks according to Rubio

According to RCO News Agency, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the main obstacle to a peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv is the territory of the Donbas region, which remains under the control of Ukraine.

His comments came after high-level talks between Russia and the United States in the Kremlin, which Moscow described as “constructive” but did not lead to significant results.

In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Rubio said that Russia and Ukraine are now “literally fighting over 30 to 50 kilometers of space and 20 percent of the Donetsk region that remains (under Kiev’s control).”

The diplomat emphasized that Washington’s goal is “to understand what conditions Ukrainians can live with in order to provide them with future security guarantees so that they are never attacked again.”

He also criticized Western experts who insist that the United States should finance Ukraine’s military effort for as long as necessary, saying: “This is not realistic and it will not happen. Its scale and scope cannot be maintained.”

The US Secretary of State also rejected demands that Washington negotiate exclusively with Kiev and said: “We cannot end this war without talking to Russia.”

Emphasizing that the United States is trying to resolve the gap between the two sides, he said: “We have gotten closer, but we have not yet reached a conclusion. I hope this changes.”

Rubio’s comments came after a nearly five-hour meeting in the Kremlin between Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Steve Wittkoff’s chief negotiator, and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Yury Ushakov, the senior aide to the Russian president, who was also present at the talks, said: “The talks were quite useful, constructive and relatively comprehensive, but no agreement was reached and there is still a lot of work to be done.”

These talks focused on the peace framework proposed and supported by the US, which was initially conducted around a 28-point plan that was also leaked to the media.

The controversial roadmap reportedly included ceding parts of the Donbass controlled by Russia, as well as calling for Ukraine to abandon its bid to join NATO. This plan also seeks to limit the size of the Ukrainian army.

However, Kiev and its supporters in the European Union have refused to consider any concessions to Russia despite the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces in the Donbass and other regions.

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