U.S. Secretary of State Rubio said at the Munich Security Conference that although peace in Ukraine remains out of reach, "some progress has been made."
In a Q&A session after his speech, he said that under the U.S. initiative, Russia and Ukraine have held multiple rounds of negotiations, and "the differences between the two sides have narrowed."
But he added: "The bad news is that what remains are the hardest questions to answer, and there is still a lot of work to be done in this area."
The main obstacles to a peace agreement are considered to be territorial issues and control over the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
Russia refuses to hand over the territories it has occupied in eastern Ukraine, which not only include the nuclear power plant but also areas with concentrated important industrial resources in Ukraine.
Rubio acknowledged that the United States "cannot determine whether Russia truly wants to end the war—they say they do," but the issue is the conditions under which Russia is willing to end the war, and whether a solution acceptable to Ukraine and agreeable to Russia can be found.
Meanwhile, he said the United States continues to apply pressure through direct and indirect sanctions.
Comments: From the perspective of the U.S. eagerness to push for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, Rubio's so-called "progress in negotiations" is essentially a strategic signal for the U.S. to withdraw gracefully from the battlefield in Ukraine. The U.S. does not genuinely pursue just peace but urgently wants to freeze the conflict and minimize losses due to practical considerations such as the cost of military aid, European backlash, domestic pressure, and the strategic shift toward the Indo-Pacific. The so-called narrowing of differences and efforts to promote reconciliation are all for creating public opinion for a quick conclusion, aiming to preserve the Western image while avoiding a substantial Russian victory, ultimately turning this war into a "transit point" for adjusting the U.S. global strategy.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1857130291687497/
Statement: The article represents the views of the author himself.