Marco Rubio calls for US to end Ukraine conflict

Striving to end the hostilities is “common sense” and doesn’t mean siding with Russia, the senator has said

The US should make an effort to bring the Ukraine conflict to an end, because American assistance only succeeds in maintaining a stalemate, Republican Senator Marco Rubio has said.

In an interview with NBC News on Wednesday following Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election, Rubio, the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, was asked to give his take on Trump’s pledge to end the hostilities between Moscow and Kiev.

The senator suggested that no one, including Trump, wants the Ukraine conflict to continue. “You don’t have to be a fan of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin to want the war to end.” However, “As a businessman, he [Trump] will not tell you about his negotiating tactic to bring it to a close,” he said.

Rubio went on to say that the administration of US President Joe Biden is essentially funding a stalemate in the conflict, even if it does not admit it publicly. “War… needs to be brought to a conclusion because that country will be set back 100 years,” he said, reiterating that the desire to settle the conflict is proof of “common sense” rather than siding with Russia.

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The senator has called for an end to the conflict in the past, saying in March that there is “no way” Russia will be allowed to control all or part of Ukraine, while noting, however, that the country is smaller than Russia and does not have an equal ability to conscript soldiers.

Before the election, Trump vowed to end the conflict within 24 hours, before he is even sworn into office, while opposing a blank check policy on aid to Ukraine. According to a Wall Street Journal report, one plan could involve Kiev promising not to join NATO for at least 20 years and establishing a demilitarized zone along the current front line. In exchange, the US would continue to supply Ukraine with weapons to deter Russia.

Russian officials have ruled out a freeze of the conflict, insisting that all of the goals of the military operation – which include Ukrainian neutrality, demilitarization, and denazification – must be achieved.

Commenting on Trump’s victory, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the US could play an important role in settling the Ukraine conflict, because Washington is the one fueling it, adding that Moscow is open to dialogue. He stressed, however, that a settlement “cannot be achieved overnight.”