The secretary of state, heading to talks with Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia, said future talks with Moscow will be needed to determine what Russia is willing to give up to end the war.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that Ukraine would have to make concessions over land that Russia had taken since 2014 as part of any agreement to end the war.
Mr. Rubio spoke as he was flying to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for talks with senior Ukrainian officials, and 10 days after a contentious White House meeting between President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky. The Trump administration halted military aid to Ukraine after the blowup, which centered on Mr. Trump’s refusal to include any security guarantees in a proposed deal involving Ukraine’s natural resources.
Russia’s economy is a war time economy. Everything is transitioned over to war. Even if Russia got everything it demanded today, the war would not end. Why? Because Russia is not prepared and is not willing to dismantle their war-time economy and switch it back to a normal peace-time economy.
Russia is obviously untrustworthy as they break deals and promises all the time (which is how we are here, in war right now). But even if Russia was trustworthy, any peace accord that does not include a roadmap for Russia to renormalize their economy would be a temporary ceasefire at best.
Amazing how far a 3.6% GDP country can get with Assets, Sharp Power, and Chekist attitude alone.