Rubio contradicted Witkoff as well on Meet the Press, where he said that the US hasn’t ruled out a ceasefire in Ukraine as part of the goal of brokering a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, while arguing that additional sanctions would be unlikely to force Putin to accept a deal.
Rubio also said that the US remains committed to crafting a deal that includes both “what the border lines are going to look like” and Russia accepting that Ukraine “is a sovereign country.”
“They have a right, like every sovereign country does in the world, to have, to enter into security alliances with other countries to prevent an invasion in the future, to prevent threats to their national security,” Rubio said on CBS’s Face the Nation. “That’s not an unreasonable request.”
Rubio said no US sanctions on Russia have been relaxed and the US may eventually end up imposing tougher penalties if talks stall.
“And so those options remain to the president,” he said. “The minute he takes those steps, all talks stop.”
Engaging with Russia is necessary to end the war, “as distasteful people may find it,” Rubio said.
Asked whether a ceasefire is off the table, Rubio said, “No, it’s not off the table.” At the same time, he added, “Let’s be frank, this is not our war.”
