US Secretary of State Marco Rubio avoided setting a firm deadline for a Ukraine peace deal during high-stakes Geneva talks, emphasizing that Washington wants to conclude the agreement “as soon as possible.” Rubio also revealed that he saw no European counter-plan, despite media reports suggesting EU efforts to revise the US 28-point proposal. The talks, involving US and Ukrainian delegations, aim to address security guarantees and territorial issues, as President Trump expressed cautious optimism about the progress. #US #rubio #ukraine #EU #russia #apt
00:00Well, today, and we've talked to him since, I think he's quite pleased at the reports we've given him about the amount of progress that's been made.
00:06What's the Russian party? What's the Russian party?
00:09Well, obviously the Russians get a vote here, right?
00:11So, I mean, look, we began from the early stage of this process with our understanding of the Russian position as it's been communicated to us in numerous ways.
00:21At the State Department we received numerous written non-papers and things of this nature.
00:27Also, verbally, things they've discussed over time and so forth.
00:30So, it was, no matter what we came up with today, obviously, we now have to take what we come up with if we can reach that agreement with the Ukrainian side to the Russian side.
00:39That's another part of this equation.
00:41They have to agree to this in order to...
00:43What about the new deadline?
00:48The deadline is we want to get this done as soon as possible.
00:51Obviously, you know, we'd love it to be Thursday.
00:53Ultimately, the important point today is that we have made substantial progress.
00:57We've really moved forward.
00:59So, I feel very optimistic that we're going to get there in a very reasonable period of time very soon.
01:04You know, whether it's Thursday, whether it's Friday, whether it's Wednesday, whether it's Monday of the following week.
01:08We want it to be soon because people are going to...
01:09Between today and the time we deal with this, more people are going to die.
01:13More destruction is going to happen.
01:14Our goal is to end this war as soon as possible, but we need a little more time.
01:18Did you discuss the fighter jets in Poland?
01:23Yeah, I'm not going to discuss any of the particulars of it, quite frankly.
01:26As I said, this is an ongoing process, and so I think there's work to be done.
01:30I know that's deeply unsatisfying to you who have to cover these sorts of things,
01:34but I wanted to make you aware that we've made progress.
01:36I simply don't want to do anything that sets us back in that regard.
01:40But I can tell you we've made substantial progress today.
01:43It was the best day we have had in our entire ten months of working on these issues.
01:46What do you think you've met with the European representatives today?
01:54Yes, we met with the national security advisors of a variety of countries that were here,
02:01and we sort of walked them through the progress we had made today.
02:04We didn't go in again into tremendous detail.
02:06We assured them that items that involve both Europe and NATO directly,
02:09that those items are items that we sort of agreed to put as part of a separate track
02:14because it involves input from them.
02:17But I think what they heard, and I hope they'll confirm, I believe they will,
02:20is an incredible amount of positivity from both the Ukrainian and American side
02:24about the progress we've made today.
02:26What happens tomorrow?
02:27What's the plan for tomorrow?
02:29It would only make sense if it includes a provision that says
02:33the Americans are willing to provide security guarantees similar to Article 5 of NATO.
02:39Are you receptive to this?
02:40Yeah, again, I'm not going to discuss the details of what's being worked on
02:44with regards to any particular provisions.
02:47I mean, clearly, I think we all recognize that part of getting a final end to this war
02:53will require for Ukraine to feel as if it is safe
02:57and it is never going to be invaded or attacked again.
02:59So that's clearly something that has to be discussed.
03:02I think we've made substantial progress on that and other points,
03:05but I'm not going to get into the details today.
03:07Can you point to any concessions?
03:09Can you point to any concessions?
03:10I have time for two more, guys.
03:11Can you point to any concessions you're asking the Russians to make?
03:15In my what?
03:16Would there be a call between President Trump and Zelensky in the next hour?
03:18I don't know.
03:19It's possible.
03:20Can you point to any concessions?
03:21What happens tomorrow?
03:23Yeah, what happens when we're working?
03:25I mean, look, this process has been ongoing now for the better part of three weeks
03:30and it's really sped up in the last 96 hours.
03:32So we have all kinds of people at technical levels that are working full-time on this
03:36and engage in this full-time.
03:38In fact, even as we got up and broke up now and walked away from the table,
03:41there are a handful of technical items that we expect answers from them on
03:45or suggestions from them on in the next 24 hours or so.
03:48So this is an ongoing process.
03:49We don't have to be here in this building for that to move.
03:52But we thought today being here in person allowed us to make great strides,
03:55especially since they sent such a high-level delegation
03:58who have the authority to sort of call back to their Capitol,
04:00talk to their President and agree to certain things.
04:03Can you point to any concessions or asking the Russians?
04:07The counter-proposals of the Europeans, the counter-plans of the Europeans.
04:11I'm not a work counter-planer.
04:13Can you point to any concessions?
04:16All right, guys, thank you.
04:17Can you point to any concessions?
04:18I'm not a work counter-planer.
04:18Can you point to any concessions or anything?
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