Olusegun Ariyo
The United States of America has made it clear that there is “no military solution” to the conflict in Ukraine.
The US secretary of state Marco Rubio said this ahead of high-stakes meetings on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, insisting that the war may continue with both sides not achieving their aims.
The meeting in Saudi Arabia is aimed at repairing a severely damaged relationship that has seen the US withdraw its support for Kyiv.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, will lead Ukraine’s delegation to meet Rubio, and other senior US officials on what is seen as neutral ground in the Saudi city of Jeddah.
Zelenskyy told reporters on Monday that Ukraine’s position in the talks would be “fully constructive.”
Before taking off to Jeddah, Rubio told reporters that there is a need to gauge Kyiv’s readiness to make concessions to reach peace.
He said, “The most important thing that we have to leave here with is a strong sense that Ukraine is prepared to do difficult things, like the Russians are going to have to do difficult things, to end this conflict or at least pause it in some way, shape or form.
“I think both sides need to come to an understanding that there’s no military solution to this situation.
“The Russians can’t conquer all of Ukraine, and it’ll be very difficult for Ukraine in any reasonable period to sort of force the Russians back to where they were in 2014.”
Tuesday’s meeting will be officially the first of the two countries since Trump and Zelenskyy’s Oval Office argument after which the US leader cut off crucial military assistance and intelligence sharing.
