U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the U.S. president’s son-in-law and former adviser, met with a Ukrainian delegation in Hallandale Beach, Fla., on Sunday, according to the U.S. State Department. Witkoff will reportedly travel to Moscow on Tuesday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to some reports, Kushner will go to Russia as well, but not Rubio.
“Can someone explain to me why special envoy Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law participate in negotiations with both the Ukrainians and Russians, but our secretary of state only talks to the Ukrainians and is not leading the delegation to talk to Putin?” wrote Michael McFaul, a Stanford University professor and U.S. ambassador to Russia under the Biden administration. “I don’t get it.”
At Sunday’s meeting with the Ukrainians, Rubio said that “the end goal is obviously not just the end of the war.”
“That’s central and fundamental. We want to see the end of the killing and the death and the suffering, and I’m sure the Ukrainians—and I know they do as well, that they want peace,” he stated. “But it’s also about securing an end to the war that leaves Ukraine sovereign and independent and with an opportunity at real prosperity.”
“I’d like to see if we could save a lot of souls,” U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday. “A lot of people are being killed. Last month, we had 27,000 people killed in that ridiculous war.”
“I think Russia would like to see it end, and I know Ukraine would like to see it end,” Trump said. “We have a corruption situation going on, which is not helpful.”
“I think that there is a good chance that we can make a deal,” he said.
Putin has reportedly signaled willingness for “serious” peace talks but maintains hard-line demands, saying that fighting will end only when Ukrainian troops withdraw.
“If they don’t withdraw, we will achieve this by force,” he reportedly said.
