Americans Abandon Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks in London
An American-brokered peace deal between Ukraine and Russia is becoming more unlikely by the day.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff bailed on a major meeting Wednesday in London set up to bring about peace in Eastern Europe. This happened after Ukraine had just rejected a U.S. proposal for a deal that recognizes Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. “Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday. “There’s nothing to talk about here. This is against our constitution.”
The White House has grown increasingly frustrated as efforts to end the war “on Day 1,” as candidate Trump repeatedly vowed, have advanced into the third month with little promise on the horizon. During an interview with NBC News in March, Trump said he was “pissed off” at Russian President Vladimir Putin and threatened to level secondary tariffs against Russia. The Kremlin refused to ink a U.S.-brokered, 30-day full ceasefire agreement that Ukraine had agreed to. Witkoff’s three visits to Russia have only yielded a 30-day ceasefire on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and a partial ceasefire in the Black Sea. And now, it seems like the Americans are ready to walk away.
Negotiations at a Crossroads
Echoing earlier comments from Rubio and Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance said on Wednesday that negotiations are coming to a crossroads. Talking to reporters during a visit to Agra, India, Vance said, “We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say yes or for the United States to walk away from this process.” During his time as an Ohio senator, Vance was among the few Republicans opposed to Ukraine aide. He is also on record admitting Ukraine’s fate is of little concern to him. During an interview with Steve Bannon just days before Russia invaded in 2022, Vance told the one-time Trump advisor, “I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine, one way or the other. We did not serve in the Marine Corps to go and fight Vladimir Putin because he didn’t believe in transgender rights.”
Trump told reporters on Friday that if the two sides don’t come to terms “soon,” the United States is “goi
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