Secretary of State Marco Rubio underscored that Russia will have a central role to play in any deal to end the war with Ukraine, casting the peace talks as fragile after a high-level meeting between US officials and a Ukrainian delegation in Miami.
“This is delicate, it’s complicated,” Rubio told reporters after the meeting, which included special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
“There are a lot of moving parts, and obviously there’s another party involved here that they’ll have to be a part of the equation,” Rubio said.
The Secretary of State described the meeting in Miami as “a very productive and useful session where … additional progress was made,” but cautioned that more work remained. He said the administration’s diplomatic push would intensify this week, with Witkoff expected to travel to Moscow for further talks.
The top US diplomat said the teams were not only working on terms that would end the fighting between Ukraine and Russia but also “terms that set up Ukraine for long-term prosperity.”
Before the meeting began, Rubio said the goal of the negotiations was to create “a pathway forward that leaves Ukraine sovereign, independent, and prosperous.”
The head of the Ukrainian delegation, Rustem Umerov, said that the meeting was “productive and successful” and had built on the success of the previous US-Ukraine talks in Geneva
