US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday said it is now the time for concrete proposals from Moscow and Kyiv to end the war in Ukraine, warning that the US will step back as a mediator if there is no progress.
US diplomat John Kelley, at a later United Nations Security Council meeting, blamed Russia for the continuing bloodshed, saying it had regrettably carried out high-profile strikes causing needless loss of life, including of innocent civilians.
“Right now, Russia has a great opportunity to achieve a durable peace. It is up to the leaders of both these countries to decide whether peace is possible. If both sides are ready to end the war, the United States will fully support their path to a lasting peace,”; Kelley said, while adding that the burden for ending the war rests with Russia and Ukraine.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce cited Rubio as saying that the time had been reached at which concrete proposals need to be delivered by the two parties on how to end this conflict.
“How we proceed from here is a decision that belongs now to the President. If there is no progress, we will step back as mediators in this process,”; Bruce said in a regular news briefing, referring to President Donald Trump, who has sought to secure a deal to end the conflict, but made clear his impatience.
Kyiv and Moscow have shown that they are making progress towards Trump’s goal of a rapid peace deal after repeated US threats to abandon its peace push, but at the United Nations, both blamed each other for continuing the war.
DAILY POST reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday from May 8-10 to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies in World War Two.
Ukraine has questioned why Moscow would not agree to Kyiv’s call for a ceasefire lasting at least 30 days and starting immediately.
