The United States warned on Tuesday that Washington may withdraw from mediating the Russia-Ukraine conflict unless both countries present “concrete proposals,” signaling growing frustration over a key early priority for President Donald Trump.
The US president had vowed to end the war in his first 24 hours back in the White House; however, ‘the administration could soon turn attention to other issues,’Secretary of State Marco Rubio pointed out.
“We are now at a time where concrete proposals need to be delivered by the two parties on how to end this conflict,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters, in what she said was a message from Rubio.
“If there is not progress, we will step back as mediators in this process,” Bruce said.
She added that it would ultimately be up to Trump to decide whether to move ahead on diplomacy.
Here’s what has happened so far
1. Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested a brief three-day ceasefire — from May 8-10 — to coincide with Moscow’s upcoming World War II anniversary events next week.
2. However, he rejected a broader 30-day ceasefire proposal supported by Ukraine and the United States. Ukraine has questioned why Moscow would not agree to Kyiv’s call for a ceasefire lasting at least 30 days and starting immediately.
3. The United States wants “not a three-day moment so you can celebrate something else — a complete, durable ceasefire and an end to the conflict,” Bruce said.
4. The United States already put together a framework proposal which Ukrainians feel bows to Russian demands, AFP reported.
5. Trump has suggested an official recognition of Russia’s takeover in 2014 of Crimea, an annexation rejected by nearly all the world, in addition to land swaps.
6. Mariana Betsa, a Ukrainian deputy foreign minister, told the Security Council Russia wants Ukraine to surrender and Kyiv could not accept peace at any cost. She said Ukraine would never recognize any temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine as Russian, including Crimea, which Russia has held since 2014.
7. “We all want this war to end in a fair way — with no rewards for Putin, especially no land,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told an event in Poland by videoconference on Tuesday.
8. Meanwhile, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, told a UN Security Council meeting that Zelensky “is bent on escalating the conflict. He’s recklessly rejecting the United States’ balanced peace proposals,”
9. US diplomat John Kelley told the session that both sides would benefit from working off the US framework and condemned Russian strikes into Ukraine. “Right now, Russia has a great opportunity to achieve a durable peace,” Kelley said.
10. Trump, who has claimed that Putin would not have attacked Ukraine if he were in power in 2022, wrote, “Vladimir, STOP,” on social media after the attack.
(With inputs from agencies)
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