Talks on security guarantees needed for Ukraine peace: Rubio

WASHINGTON

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that security guarantees for Ukraine needed to be part of peace talks, adding he was hopeful of imminent progress towards ending the war.

Ahead of the Trump-Putin summit on Friday, Rubio said that "to achieve peace, I think we all recognize that there'll have to be some conversation about security guarantees."

Rubio said Trump has spoken to Putin multiple times by phone this year and now wants to meet him face-to-face to “look him in the eye” and assess the possibilities for peace.

“He wants that war to end. He’s going to do everything he possibly can, and he sees an opportunity to talk about achieving peace. He's going to pursue it. We’ll know tomorrow at some point, as the president said probably very early in that meeting, whether something is possible or not, we hope It is,” he said.

“We’re hopeful. We want there to be peace, we’re going to do everything we can to achieve one, but ultimately, it'll be up to Ukraine and Russia to agree to one,” Rubio added.

Trump and Putin are meeting in Alaska at 11.30 a.m. local time (1930GMT) in what will be the first talks between sitting US and Russian presidents since the start of the Ukraine war in February 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that Trump expressed readiness to provide his country with security guarantees.

Trump has said Russia and Ukraine would swap territories as part of a peace agreement and has threatened Putin with “very severe consequences” if he does not agree to end the war in Ukraine at the summit.

Trump said Thursday he is more focused on achieving an immediate peace deal than a ceasefire when he meets his Putin in Alaska on Friday.

"I don't know that we're going to get an immediate ceasefire, but I think it's going to come," Trump told Fox Radio, adding: "I'm more interested in [an] immediate peace deal, getting peace fast."

Trump indicated he might call Zelensky for a follow-up meeting depending on Friday's outcome, saying there were three possible locations including perhaps remaining in Alaska but did not name the other two.

Pressed about notifying Zelensky "to be ready to come" to a meeting, Trump declined to confirm plans for a second meeting and said it "would be certainly convenient if we had a very good meeting" with Putin.

He emphasized his role would be facilitating rather than directing negotiations. "I'm going to let them negotiate their deal. I'm not going to negotiate their deal," he said.

The Alaska summit, set for Friday, aims to address the Russia-Ukraine war, now in its fourth year.