U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will begin working on a ceasefire in Ukraine "almost immediately," new U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told journalists on Jan. 20.
Asked about a timeframe for ending the war, Rubio did not provide any specific deadline but said that negotiating a ceasefire would be a "top priority to the president, so it’ll (begin) almost immediately."
"In fact, some of that’s already begun. You would hope that some of the groundwork has already been laid, but it’ll be complex. I mean, it’s a complex conflict and a bloody one, and it needs to end," he was quoted as saying by CNN.
Rubio became the first high-level cabinet member of the new Trump administration to be confirmed by the Senate, making him the new U.S. secretary of state.
"I don’t — couldn’t put a time frame on it, other than to say that anytime you bring an end to a conflict between two sides, neither of whom can achieve their maximum goals, each side is going to have to give up something," Rubio said, without specifying what these concessions might be.
The chief U.S. diplomat acknowledged that Russia "is the aggressor" but stressed that the war "needs to end."
Previously, Rubio publicly praised the bravery of Ukrainian defenders but was among the 15 Republican lawmakers in the Senate who voted against the $61 billion aid package for Ukraine in early 2024. Its delay severely hampered Ukraine's fight against Russian forces.
Although Trump vowed during his campaign in 2024 to put an end to the conflict in 24 hours if elected, aides revised the timeframe to the first 100 days after he took office. The Trump administration has not publicly disclosed details on any specific plans to broker a peace deal in Ukraine.
An initial proposal leaked from Trump's team – freezing the war along its current front lines, delaying Ukraine's NATO accession by 20 years, and deploying European peacekeepers on the ground – has already been rejected by Russia.
Chris York
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