US state secretary calls Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine “proxy war between US and Russia”
Pravda Ukraine
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has claimed that Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is in fact a proxy war between the US and Russia.
Source: Rubio in an interview with Fox News
Quote from Rubio: “Frankly, it’s a proxy war between nuclear powers: the United States, helping Ukraine, and Russia. And it needs to come to an end.”
Details: However, according to Rubio, “no one has any idea or any plan to bring it to an end”.
Rubio believes that the plan by Ukraine and its allies up to now has been “let’s just keep giving them as much as they need for as long as it takes. That’s not a strategy.”
He added that from the very beginning, US President Donald Trump has viewed this as a “protracted stalemated conflict”.
“This was explained to everybody, and it was made very clear that all the president [Trump] is trying to do here is figure out if there is a path towards peace. We have to engage both sides – the Russians and the Ukrainians. And we asked the Ukrainians not to sabotage it. When the vice president [JD Vance] made the point that it’s going to take diplomacy to get things like this solved, President Zelenskyy unfortunately made the decision to challenge the vice president and start questioning whether diplomacy is even possible,” Rubio said.
He added that he was “glad” that Zelenskyy has reconsidered his position.
“I truly believe that this is a conflict that we need to find a way to end. It’s going to require concessions, from both sides, but we have to get them both to the table. The Ukrainians have to be there – obviously, it’s their country – and the Russians have to be at that table. And only President Trump can make that possible,” Rubio concluded.
Why this matters: Rubio and other Trump administration officials have been echoing Kremlin narratives recently. Having failed in its plan to “take Kyiv in three days”, Russia quickly began justifying its failures on the battlefield by claiming it was fighting the whole of NATO on Ukrainian soil. The Russians have spread numerous false claims about the collective West’s alleged preparations for an attack on Russia and the construction of NATO bases and biolabs in Ukraine, among others.
For reference: Rubio appeared on air with a cross on his forehead, a mark related to a religious rite observed on Ash Wednesday.
Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent in various Western Christian churches, fell on 5 March this year.
The name originates from the ritual in which a priest marks crosses on the foreheads of believers using ashes from the palms that were burned after Palm Sunday the previous year.
Background:
- On 28 February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance had a row over the war in Ukraine at the White House in raised voices in front of the TV cameras. Prior to this, Trump had said at the meeting with Zelenskyy that he was “for both Ukraine and Russia”.
- Trump later said that Zelenskyy had been disrespectful to the US and was not ready for peace.
- Zelenskyy subsequently left the White House ahead of schedule.
- On 4 March, it was reported that US President Donald Trump had ordered the suspension of all military aid to Ukraine, intensifying pressure on Zelenskyy following the spat at the White House.
- In addition, the United States has halted all intelligence sharing with Ukraine, particularly data on military targets and warnings about Russian missile and drone launches on Ukrainian territory.
- Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, later said preparations were underway for a new round of talks between the US and Ukraine.
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