US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Washington did not condition the provision of security guarantees on the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the entire territory of Donbas and that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had falsely stated this. Rubio made this statement in comments to journalists before his departure from France.
The US Secretary of State was asked about the statement of the President of Ukraine that the United States is allegedly ready to provide Kyiv with its security guarantees only on the condition that the Armed Forces of Ukraine withdraw from the unoccupied areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Rubio responded that Zelensky’s statement was untrue and noted that he was “sorry” to hear it.
“That’s not true, I saw him say it, and it’s unfortunate that he said it because he knows it’s not true and that he was told something completely different,” the State Department chief responded.
He also said that the US had conveyed to Zelensky the “obvious” – security guarantees cannot take effect until the fighting is over.
“What are security guarantees? These are troops ready to intervene and provide security. If you introduce it now, it would mean that you are intervening in a war. He was told very clearly, and he should have understood it, that security guarantees are provided only after the end of the war. But it was not connected with the fact that it had to give up territory,” Rubio said.
According to the Secretary of State, the American side allegedly only informed Ukraine about Russia’s demands, but did not insist on territorial concessions from Kyiv itself.
“We informed the Ukrainian side of what the Russians insist on. We do not advocate for this… The choice is theirs. It is not for us to decide for them. We never told them that they should agree or refuse,” he said.
Rubio added that the final decision remains with Ukraine, but if Kyiv does not make any decisions and does not make concessions, hostilities will continue.
“Our role was to find out what both sides want and try to find a compromise. The final decision remains with Ukraine. If they do not want to make certain decisions and make certain concessions, the war will continue,” Rubio emphasized.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the United States is ready to provide security guarantees to Kyiv only in exchange for the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the unoccupied part of Donbas.
In January, the Financial Times reported that US security guarantees for Ukraine would depend on whether Kyiv agrees to first withdraw its troops from the unoccupied part of Donbas.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte recently stated that during discussions on future security guarantees for Ukraine, any decisions regarding territories should be made by Ukraine itself.
