Secretary of the State Marco Rubio has said the Trump administration could resume aid and intelligence support to Ukraine if the war-torn country’s leaders commit to a peace process at a crucial meeting of senior officials of the two countries in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
Rubio told reporters after landing Monday in Jeddah for the talks that the aid was suspended “because we felt the Ukrainians were not committed” to ending the three-year-war triggered by the Russian invasion in 2022, The Washington Post reported. If that changes, so could the US policy.
“My hope is we’ll have a really good meeting tomorrow and be in a different place,” he added.
The Trump administration suspended all US aid and support, including intelligence, to Ukraine after a White House spat between Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on the one side and President Donald Trump and Vice-President J D Vance on the other.
Harsh words were exchanged and Trump and Vance were especially frank about the criticality of US support for Ukraine and reminded Zelensky again and again of it and demanded respect and gratitude.
Former President Joe Biden had a similar complaint about Zelensky and told him so in a harsh phone conversation in 2022, months after the invasion and the US support that followed. Zelensky had expressed public gratitude for the US support just hours after.
He took days to convey the same to the Trump administration. He offered a “it was regrettable” message on X just hours before Trump was to give his first speech of his second term to a joint meeting of congress.
“None of us wants an endless war,” Zelensky wrote. “Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts.”
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