Rubio talks of ‘better understanding’ of Russian conditions
“I think what we have is a better understanding of the conditions under which Russia would be prepared to ned the war,” said Rubio, adding the US hopes to get Ukrainian and Russian conditions “close enough” before a meeting between Trump, Putin and Zelensky.
“For the first time perhaps sine this adminsitration began, we have some concrete examples of the kinds of things Russia would ask for in order to end the war… obviously the Ukrainians have a say in this.”
Putin has previously stated he wants to address what he sees as the “root causes” of the war in Ukraine.
This related back to his so-called ‘maximalist’ demands that were demanded at the start of the war in early 2022.
Putin wanted Ukraine to abandon its hopes of joining NATO and become neutral. It also wants to keep the Ukrainian territory it has gained and international recognition of its annexations of Crimea and declared annexations the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson.
Russia also wants Zelensky’s government to step down and replaced with a “transitional” administration.