Talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have created enough momentum to warrant follow-up discussions with Ukraine and European leaders, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with CBS on Sunday.
Rubio noted that both Russia and Ukraine would need to make concessions to end the conflict, while cautioning that Washington may not be able to deliver a guarantee of lasting peace.
European leaders are set to join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington on Monday, aiming to strengthen his position as Trump pushes for a swift peace agreement following his meeting with Putin in Alaska on Friday.
"I'm not saying we're on the verge of a peace deal, but I am saying that we saw movement, enough movement to justify a follow-up meeting with Zelensky and the Europeans," Rubio told CBS’s Face the Nation.
His remarks mark one of the first public assessments from a senior U.S. official directly involved in the Putin talks.
Trump offered few specifics in a social media post, simply declaring: “BIG PROGRESS ON RUSSIA. STAY TUNED!”
Speaking separately on Fox News, Rubio said negotiations had begun to narrow around core issues, including defining borders, securing long-term security guarantees for Kyiv, and clarifying which military alliances Ukraine might be permitted to join.
Putin has repeatedly ruled out Ukrainian membership in NATO, whose Article 5 collective defence clause obliges allies to defend one another in case of attack.
However, Trump’s special envoy to Russia, Steve Witkoff, told CNN that the U.S. had extracted a concession that Washington — along with European partners — could provide Article 5-style security guarantees to Ukraine outside the NATO framework.
“This is one of the subjects up for discussion on Monday,” Witkoff said.
