Washington, Nov 9 (IANS) US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US-brokered talks on the Russia-Ukraine war were due to begin in Abu Dhabi, with presidential envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff heading there as Washington presses for post-war security arrangements for Ukraine and Europe.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday at Homestead Air Reserve Base in Homestead, Florida, before leaving for a G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in France, Rubio said the discussions were starting the next day.
“Well, there’ll be talks tomorrow, starting tomorrow, in Abu Dhabi,” he said.
Asked about President Donald Trump’s recent comments on a Europe-wide security concept, Rubio tied the Abu Dhabi meetings to long-running questions about guarantees after any settlement.
“The entirety of the time we’ve been talking about Russia-Ukraine, the one thing that’s repeatedly come up is the need for security guarantees – what is the post-war security infrastructure of Ukraine and, more broadly, of the European continent going to look like?” he said.
“And it’s one of the key topics that’s been raised repeatedly in every conversation any time negotiations have been discussed. So I think that’s what the President is alluding to, that there’s been some advances made in what that architecture should look like post-conflict. We obviously have to get past the conflict to get to that point.”
Rubio said Trump had been briefed late last week on early thinking and that nothing had been finalised.
“So look, there’s been talks about that. I think the President was briefed on that on Thursday or Friday of last week, some of the initial thoughts that are out there. Nothing’s been finalized yet. And maybe some progress can be made in Abu Dhabi tomorrow when Jared and Steve will be there. I think they’re on the way there right now,” he said.
He later said G7 counterparts would likely ask about technical talks under way in Abu Dhabi and that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha would join the ministers in France.
“I’m sure they’ll have a lot of questions about the status of affairs in the Middle East with regards to Iran. I think there’ll be, obviously, a conversation. The Ukrainians are joining us; Sybiha will be there. So I’m sure that topic will come up. I know – I think they’ll be curious to know of any progress that’s being made in the technical talks that are ongoing in Abu Dhabi,” Rubio said.
Separately on Sunday, Trump spoke to reporters before departing Palm Beach, Florida, and said the United States was working hard to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
“We’re trying very hard to end that Russian Ukraine nightmare,” Trump said.
He contrasted US casualties in the Iran conflict with battlefield losses in Ukraine, saying no US soldier had been killed in connection with Iran in six months while arguing that Russia and Ukraine were losing large numbers of troops each month.
Rubio’s Homestead comments are the clearest on-record confirmation from a Cabinet official that US envoys Kushner and Witkoff were travelling for talks in the United Arab Emirates capital and that security guarantees remained central to the US approach.
–IANS
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