European leaders are set to hold an emergency summit on Ukraine as leaders of the United States and Russia meet in Saudi Arabia over the Russia–Ukraine war.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday said a negotiation process for ending the war in Ukraine had not yet begun in earnest, and that if talks advanced, Ukraine and other European countries would be brought into the fold.
On Feb. 16, the French government stated it will host a summit of European leaders on Feb. 17 to discuss the Russia–Ukraine war and European security after retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, did not include Europe in negotiations over Ukraine’s future following years of war with Russia.
Rubio eased European concerns about being cut out of the initial talks between Russia and the United States, which are set to take place in Saudi Arabia in the coming days.
In an interview with CBS, Rubio said Ukraine and Europe would be part of any “real negotiations” to end Moscow’s war.
“President Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin last week, and in it, Vladimir Putin expressed his interest in peace, and the president expressed his desire to see an end to this conflict in a way that was enduring and that protected Ukrainian sovereignty,” Rubio said on CBS’s “Meet the Press.”
“Now, obviously it has to be followed up by action, so the next few weeks and days will determine whether it’s serious or not. Ultimately, one phone call does not make peace.”
The Kremlin said on Sunday that the significance of the phone call between Putin and Trump was that now Russia and the United States would speak about peace, rather than war.
“This is a powerful signal that we will now try to solve problems through dialogue,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state TV Kremlin reporter Pavel Zarubin in a clip released on Sunday. “Now we will talk about peace, not war.”
By Jacob Burg
