Ukraine must be prepared to do ‘difficult things’ for peace deal, Rubio says

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says US officials want to hear what kind of concessions Ukraine is prepared to make to end the war, as delegations from Kyiv and Washington head for crunch talks in Saudi Arabia.

Speaking to reporters before arriving in the Saudi city of Jeddah, Rubio said his team “want to listen to see how far they’re willing to go and then compare that to what the Russians want”.

“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,” he said.

“It’s hard in the aftermath of something like that to even talk about concessions, but that’s the only way this is going to end and prevent more suffering.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Kyiv’s position in Tuesday’s talks with US officials will be “fully constructive” and that he hopes for practical outcomes from the negotiations.

It’s believed that the Ukrainian delegation will propose a ceasefire covering the Black Sea and long-range missile strikes, as well as the release of prisoners.

Rubio said both sides need to understand “there’s no military solution to this situation”.

“The Russians can’t conquer all of Ukraine, and obviously it’ll be very difficult for Ukraine in any reasonable time period to sort of force the Russians back all the way to where they were in 2014,” he said.

He also praised Britain and France for being “supportive along the way”.

On Monday Sir Keir Starmer told Donald Trump he wanted the talks in Jeddah to have a “positive outcome” that would see military aid and intelligence-sharing resume.

The US leader has paused the supply of weapons and crucial information for Kyiv’s war effort following his public spat with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

Separately, military chiefs from potential members of the so-called “coalition of the willing” will meet in Paris, with French officials indicating around 30 countries could take part.

Sir Keir will lead a call with like-minded allies from the “coalition of the willing” on Saturday.

Kyiv is trying to repair relations following the public spat between the two leaders when Zelensky met Trump and JD Vance at the White House last month.

Rubio and Zelenskyy landed a few hours apart Monday in Saudi Arabia, but did not meet.

With agencies