President Zelenskyy’s comment on US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s remarks that the war in Ukraine is at a "strategic stalemate" and that there are now "no prospects for a negotiated settlement":
"You cannot negotiate future economic projects with Russians on the one hand and, on the other, claim that we are in some kind of diplomatic stalemate. We are not in a diplomatic stalemate.
Shut down Russia’s entire economy. Shut Russia's mouth. Stop feeding them through your sales. Impose sanctions on their weapons.
Open Starlink for Ukraine. You opened it when responding to Iran, after all. Everything worked there. Israel completely controlled the skies over Iran. So when you need it to work, it works.
It costs them nothing to help Ukraine. And I said quite frankly: help us protect our skies and gain dominance there.
Then Putin will sit down at the negotiating table. Why? Because he will lose everything. In two or three months, he will lose everything.
And instead, we are waiting for the Chinese to develop an equivalent and hand it over to Russians.
This is not a stalemate - this is called a lack of will."
"Right now, there don’t seem to be prospects of a negotiated settlement of the war in Ukraine. But the US is prepared to play whatever role we can in making that happen. It would be good for Russia and Ukraine, but so far, it’s proving elusive." - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio
In an interview with the Greek outlet Kathimerini, Rubio described the war in Ukraine as a "strategic stalemate" that can be overcome in only two ways: through negotiations or through escalation that goes beyond the original conflict.
Rubio said that, at present, there are no prospects for resolving the war through negotiations. According to him, Russia continues to insist on full control over Donbas, while for Ukraine "that condition is simply unacceptable."
"A diplomatic solution has eluded us, but we are prepared, if we can play a constructive role, to make it happen.
In the meantime, we watch with great concern as escalation could happen. Just yesterday, some ships were attacked in the Black Sea through a coordinated drone attack. We’re worried about a sabotage operation in a neighboring country that can spiral out of control.
And, obviously, there are clear indications that Russia will use the upcoming winter as something they want to use to destroy what remains of the electric grid in Ukraine and force them into capitulation.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has grown more effective in its ability to conduct long-range strikes deep into Russia.
So, we share the same concern. The whole world is going about this thing like something that could escalate and perhaps become a broader conflict. So, we stand prepared to facilitate and continue to explore any opportunity for a negotiated settlement," Rubio said.