US has ‘low expectation’ of breakthrough in Ukraine peace talks, Rubio says

Sen. Marco Rubio said Sunday that the US has a “low expectation” that this week’s talks between Russia and Ukraine will lead to a breakthrough in the conflict.

“The possibility of a breakthrough tends to be in the hands of the Russians,” Rubio told CNN’s “State of the Union,” adding that Moscow has shown “no indication whatsoever that they’re willing to negotiate in good faith.”

Rubio, who served as foreign affairs committee chair when he was in the Senate, said that Russia’s aggression had shown “no signs of abating,” and that President Vladimir Putin was “increasing the aggression.”

His comments came ahead of this week’s talks, with Moscow saying on Sunday that it would not discuss the fate of Ukraine’s territories seized during the war.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this month that Moscow’s willingness to negotiate would be “proof of the failure of the Russian aggression,” citing the destruction Moscow has caused and the thousands of Ukrainians who have died.

The upcoming round of talks, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, will be the first face-to-face discussions between Ukraine and Russia since Moscow invaded Kyiv’s neighbor in February. The last round, held in Istanbul, Turkey, ended acrimoniously with no breakthroughs.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoylak and Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin will lead their respective delegations at the headquarters of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna, Austria.

The US and its allies have long said that Russia cannot be trusted to negotiate in good faith, and that any talks must be accompanied by an immediate cease-fire and withdrawal of Russian troops.

The Kremlin has repeatedly said it will only negotiate directly with Kyiv, and has derided Ukrainian officials who have participated in talks organized by intermediary countries.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that Moscow would not “accept any preconditions” ahead of the talks.

Ukraine has said that it intends to pursue a peace agreement along the lines of a 2015 peace deal known as the Minsk agreements, which included a cease-fire, the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of contact, and the restoration of Ukrainian control over its borders.

Russian troops have been pushed back from Kyiv and the north of Ukraine after a series of blows to their military campaign, but they have made advances in the east and south, including in Kherson, a region on the west bank of the Dnipro River.

On Sunday, Ukrainian officials said that Russian troops had withdrawn from the city of Kherson, the only regional capital to be captured by Moscow’s forces. However, they also warned that fighting continued elsewhere.

In his Sunday interview, Rubio argued that the US and its allies should provide Ukraine with heavier weapons, including armored personnel carriers and tanks, to help ensure that the upcoming talks “have the best possibility of success.”

“That’s the best way of getting to a negotiation, is to make it clear to the Russians that an unsuccessful invasion, that they will pay a very heavy price for it,” he said.