President Donald Trump spoke separately by telephone on Monday to Zelensky and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, after Russian and Ukrainian officials met in Istanbul on Friday for their first direct talks on the conflict in three years.
But Rubio said that Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov indicated they would present their own terms “maybe in a number of days, maybe this week hopefully.”
He said that the presentation will “tell us a lot about their true intentions.”
Putin after Trump’s call said he was ready to work with Ukraine on a “memorandum” outlining a possible roadmap and different positions on ending the war.
Rubio insisted to critical lawmakers that Putin “hasn’t gotten a single concession” from Trump. But Russia has also not indicated any new flexibility since Trump took office in January with vows to end the war through dialogue.
Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Rubio that Putin’s refusal to go to Istanbul despite the stated willingness of both Zelensky and Trump to meet showed “he believes it’s in Russia’s interest to carry out this war as long as possible.”
Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s Direct Investment Fund and lead economic negotiator with Washington, attacked the move, saying: “Western politicians and the media are making titanic efforts to disrupt the constructive dialogue between Russia and the United States.”
Moscow appears confident, with its troops advancing on the battlefield and Trump ending Western isolation of the Kremlin.
“The cessation of hostilities is not a condition for it, which means that Russia can continue its offensive,“ he added.
Trump is no ‘messiah’
“I never had any faith in him and now I have none at all,“ retired teacher Victoria Kyseliova said in Kyiv, when asked if she was losing confidence in Trump.
Ukrainian political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said Trump’s latest calls had only added to the uncertainty.
He said Trump had fallen for Putin’s tactics of trying to use talks “as a cover to continue and intensify the war.”
“I believe that we don’t need these negotiations. We will win anyway,“ said Marina, a 70-year-old former engineer.
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