Unless “specific proposals”, the United States threatens to withdraw from Russia – Ukraine strives
“We are now on two specific proposals,” State Department spokesman Tammy Bruce told reporters.
“If there is no progress, we will take a step back in the process.”
She said it will be ultimately up to Trump to decide whether to continue diplomacy.
The president suggested on Tuesday that his Russian rival Vladimir Putin still wants to reach a peace deal with Ukraine.
But he rejected Ukrainian-backed U.S. calls for a ceasefire.
Bruce said the U.S. hopes “not a three-day moment, so you can celebrate something else – a complete, lasting ceasefire and the end of a conflict.”
Means of pressure
It is unclear whether Rubio is really ready to turn the page or is seeking to put pressure on both countries.
The United States has proposed a framework proposal that Ukrainians believe is Russia’s demand.
Trump suggested formal recognition of Russia’s takeover of Kria in 2014, and almost the world rejected an annexation except for land swaps.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was held in Poland via video conference on Tuesday.
Russia has not made this proposal, and many experts believe that Moscow now sees an upper hand – Trump is eager for reconciliation on the battlefield and diplomacy.
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia tried to accuse Zelensky and said Russia would continue to talk to the United States.
Zelensky “inclines to escalate conflict. He recklessly rejects the US’s proposal for balanced peace,” Nibenzia said at a UN Security Council meeting.
U.S. diplomat John Kelley told the meeting that both sides would benefit from the U.S. framework and condemn Russia’s strike against Ukraine.
“Russia has a great opportunity to achieve lasting peace right now,” Kelly said.
Trump criticized his predecessor, Joe Biden, who avoided Putin during the February 2022 invasion, reached out to Russian leaders by phone and sent his business friend to a global trip, with ambassador Steve Witkoff meeting him.
Trump in turn condemned Zelensky at a White House meeting on February 28. He and Vice President JD Vance accused the wartime leaders of the status of American weapons sent to Biden.
Ukraine quickly tried to make changes by supporting U.S. diplomatic efforts and pursuing a deal in which the United States would control much of the country’s mineral wealth.
“Deadly Bad” Talk
“Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea will invite further aggression from Moscow and Beijing,” said Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democratic Senator of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Tuesday.
“I work hard to give President Trump a room for just and lasting peace in Ukraine, which is the goal we both share,” she said.
“But President Trump and his team committed these negotiations fatally – offering franchise after giving Russia’s franchise, abandoning our leverage, and tearing the united front with our allies, is crucial to ending this war,” she said.
Ukraine ordered the evacuation of seven villages in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region on Tuesday, which were once remote from the frontline but are now under threat as Russian troops are closed.
Last week, a ballistic missile broke into a residential area in Kiev, one of the deadliest attacks on the capital since the invasion.
Trump claimed that if Putin had taken power in 2022, he would not have attacked Ukraine, he wrote on social media after the attack: “Vladimir, stop.”
