Rubio: New talks will be bilateral between Ukraine and Russia, the only unresolved issue is territories
Marco Rubio (Photo: SHAWN THEW/EPA)

New negotiations on the peace plan will be held bilaterally, possibly with the participation of US representatives. The last issue is the territory. This was stated by U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio during a speech to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, which broadcasted CBS News channel.

According to him, the only unresolved issue is territorial claims, in particular, regarding the Donetsk region. Earlier, Moscow had repeatedly demanded that Kyiv withdraw its troops from the Ukrainian Donbas.

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"And I know that active work is underway to try to find out if we can reconcile the vision of both sides on this issue. It's still a bridge that we haven't crossed. It's still a gap. But at least we have managed to narrow the range of issues to one central one. And this is probably a very complex issue. But, nevertheless, work on it continues," the official explained.

Rubio also said that the next talks in the United Arab Emirates will also address this issue.

According to the secretary of state, this time the talks will be bilateral between Kyiv and Moscow: they may involve US representatives, but not the US president's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Donald Trump Jared Kushner.

Preliminary meetings in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, January 23-24 were trilateral, the US was involved, and these two negotiators participated in them.

He also noted that it is easier for Ukraine and Russia to "find flexibility" on some issues if they are not discussed publicly regularly, as this creates internal political pressure in both countries.

"As you can imagine, in Ukraine, the idea that you would even consider territorial changes after everything that happened during the war is difficult. And in the case of Russia, they have been telling their population for two and a half years that they are winning this war by a large margin. So people will ask: why are we giving away land if we are winning so much?" Rubio explained.

However, the official added that the situation is "so volatile" that such information (such as the one he provided) could be outdated within 72 hours if any new developments occur.

  • Foreign minister Sybiha reported that president Zelenskyy is ready to meet with dictator Putin to resolve two of the most difficult issues territories and the occupied ZNPP.
  • The official also said that the delegation representing Russia in Abu Dhabi has changed qualitativelyagainst the previous Moscow negotiating team.