US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he hoped Washington’s cutoff of military aid could be “resolved” during critical talks in Saudi Arabia aimed at ending the conflict in Ukraine.
“I think the notion of the pause in aid, broadly, is something I hope we can resolve. Obviously what happens tomorrow will be key to that,” the chief US diplomat told reporters shortly before arriving in Jeddah for meetings with Ukrainian officials.
Rubio said that the United States would oppose “antagonistic” language toward Russia when Group of Seven foreign ministers meet in Canada this week.
“Ultimately we can’t sign on to any communique that’s not consistent with our position to bring both sides to the table,” Rubio told reporters as he flew to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for talks with Ukraine.
The position is not about “taking anyone’s side, but because we feel like antagonistic language sometimes makes it harder to bring parties to the table”, Rubio said
Rubio acknowledged that the other members of the club of wealthy democracies—Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan—felt differently.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky landed in Saudi Arabia on Monday to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, although he is not expected to play any formal role in the talks between his country and the US.
The Ukrainian team will be represented by Zelensky’s head of office Andriy Yermak, the country’s national security adviser and several foreign and defence ministers.
Rubio will represent the US delegation alongside National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly about Tuesday’s meeting, also told The Associated Press that the Ukrainian delegation is ready during the talks to sign an agreement with the United States on access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals — a deal that US President Donald Trump is keen to secure.
British leader Keir Starmer told President Donald Trump in a call Monday that he hoped this week’s talks in Saudi Arabia would lead to the United States resuming military aid to Ukraine, Downing Street said.
The prime minister “said he hoped there would be a positive outcome to the talks that would enable US aid and intelligence sharing to be restarted,” Starmer’s office said in its readout of the phone conversation.