Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States would decide on Russia's intentions regarding a peace deal "within weeks."
Rubio, speaking at a Friday meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, signaled President Donald Trump's growing impatience with Moscow's refusal to accept a ceasefire. He said the U.S. would decide its policy based on Russia's actions in the coming weeks.
“This is about actions. If you’re interested in peace, you stop fighting and you lay out the conditions by which you’re willing to end the war, and they have to be reasonable conditions, right, not crazy stuff. If you’re interested in peace, that’s what you do," Rubio said.
"If you’re not interested in peace, then you sort of drag it out, and you come up with excuses. ... We know that, and we’re not going to get pulled into that. But let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” he added.
One major indicator would be if Russia were to launch its expected military offensive later in the spring. Ukrainian intelligence and Russian milbloggers expect the offensive to target Sumy, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts within weeks.
“If all of a sudden, we wake up tomorrow and the Russians are watching a massive offensive, then I think that’s a pretty clear sign they’re not interested in peace. That hasn’t happened yet. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen,” Rubio said.
“We want to know whether they want to be peace or not, and if they do, then there’s a way there, and we’re willing to help," he concluded. "If they’re not, then it’s good to know early so we can adjust our policies accordingly.”
Russia has continued its incremental advances in the Donbas region after achieving one of its biggest victories of the war — the complete eviction of Ukrainian forces from Kursk. It is now poised to push its advance in Kursk into Ukraine's Sumy region, in conjunction with new offensives in the stalled Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
“According to our intelligence, Russia is preparing for new offensives in Sumy, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts,” Zelensky warned last week. “They are dragging out negotiations and trying to drag the U.S. into endless, meaningless discussions about fake conditions to buy time and then try to seize even more land.”
Negotiations between the U.S. and Russia have drawn sentiments of goodwill from both but so far have failed to enact a serious ceasefire. Previous limited ceasefire proposals attempting to stop strikes on infrastructure and on shipping in the Black Sea quickly fell apart.
Negotiations have been complicated by mutually exclusive "red lines" from Ukraine and Russia. Russia has insisted that a ceasefire must be in conjunction with pauses in military aid, fearing the period would be used for Ukrainian forces to regroup. A long-standing peace deal is even more elusive due to Ukraine's requirement, and Russia's strong rejection of, security guarantees and the presence of foreign peacekeeping troops.
Trump has signaled growing impatience with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Speaking with NBC's Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker on Sunday, Trump expressed anger when Putin questioned Zelensky's legitimacy.
TRUMP 'PISSED OFF' AT PUTIN OVER ZELENSKY COMMENTS
“I was very angry, pissed off when Putin started getting into Zelensky, his credibility, and started talking about new leadership in Ukraine,” she quoted Trump as saying.
“If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault, which it might not be, but if I think it was Russia’s fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on all oil coming out of Russia,” he said.