Rubio says US policy on Ukraine's territorial integrity unchanged

The United States has not changed its official stance on Ukraine's territorial integrity, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after a meeting of G7 foreign ministers.

A joint statement issued after the meeting reaffirmed the G7's unwavering support for Ukraine in defending its territorial integrity. Since the administration of Donald Trump had not made similar statements in the past, journalists asked Rubio what prompted the US to sign the document.

"That's not a change in public policy. The United States has never said that Russia – I've never heard President Trump say that Russia has a right to take all of Ukraine and do whatever they want there," the secretary of state said.

He noted that the G7 document does not address "the issue we face today, and that is that as it stands today, there is a war going on that has no military solution to it." Rubio also reiterated that neither Russia nor Ukraine can achieve their "maximalist military aims."

The secretary of state sees negotiations as the only way to end the war, whether in business relations, commerce, or geopolitics. This, he said, means that "both sides giving something, both sides making concessions."

He stressed that "the reality of any conversations that exist in order to end wars, is that there has to be some level of concessions."

"What those concessions are remains to be seen," he said.