Rubio Says US May Join New Russia-Ukraine Talks This Week

The United States may join new talks this week between warring foes Russia and Ukraine, with territory the remaining but major point of contention, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday.

Teams from Ukraine and Russia met last Friday and Saturday in Abu Dhabi in their first in-person negotiations on a plan being pushed by President Donald Trump to end the war.

"They were going to (hold) follow-up talks again this week," Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "There might be a US presence."

But Rubio said US participation would be more junior than last week when Trump's roving negotiator Steve Witkoff and the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner joined.

Rubio suggested that an agreement is already sealed on security guarantees for Ukraine, its key demand before it compromises nearly four years into the Russian invasion.

"One remaining item remains -- the one you're all familiar with -- and that is  a territorial claim on the Donetsk," Rubio said, referring to the eastern Ukrainian region where Moscow wants Kyiv to surrender land.

"I know there's active work going to try to see if both sides' views on that can't be reconciled. It's still a bridge we haven't crossed," he said in the hearing.

Rubio acknowledged that the issue would be "very difficult," especially for Ukraine.

"It's easier for the parties engaged to find flexibility on some of these matters if they're not being deliberated in the public on a constant basis, because it creates political pressures internally on both sides -- as you can imagine in Ukraine, the notion that you would even consider a change in land," Rubio said.

Despite the talks, Russia has pounded Ukrainian infrastructure, leaving many residents of Kyiv without heat in freezing temperatures.

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