US seeks 'sustainable' peace in Ukraine to avoid new war in '2-4 years,' Rubio says

The Trump administration is working to attain a sustainable peace in Ukraine so that the war with Russia does not begin anew in two to four years, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Jan. 21.

"We are going to engage in making it (the war) end in a way that is sustainable, meaning we don't just want the conflict to end and then restart in two, three, or four years down the road," the recently confirmed top U.S. diplomat said on the CBS Mornings program.

"We want to bring stability."

U.S. President Donald Trump, who took office on Jan. 20, vowed to bring Kyiv and Moscow to the negotiating table and end the full-scale war nearing its third-year anniversary.

He has revealed few details on how he plans to achieve that goal, though Rubio repeatedly said that both Ukraine and Russia will have to make concessions.

"It is a stalemate. It's a war that was started by Russia, but it is now a stalemate, a protracted bloody conflict," Rubio said on CBS Mornings, adding that the war has been "incredibly destructive" for both Ukraine and Russia.

The secretary of state nevertheless said that Ukraine "is paying the biggest price of all to its energy infrastructure, to the people, the lives that are lost, to the millions of Ukrainians that have had to leave their countries and are living overseas."

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The Kyiv IndependentChris York

Ukraine has struggled to contain the Russian advance as the battlefield began tilting in Moscow's favor in late 2024. Facing increasingly difficult manpower shortages, the Ukrainian military was forced to steadily cede ground to Russian forces in eastern Donetsk Oblast.

In turn, Russia is believed to have lost between 700,000-800,000 soldiers killed and wounded, though it demonstrated the capability to replace the losses with new contract soldiers. The country's economy also faces economic headwinds amid soaring inflation and tightening sanctions against its energy sector.

In a rare criticism, Trump said on Jan. 20 that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "destroying Russia" by not seeking a deal to end the war. The new U.S. president said he plans to soon meet his Russian counterpart, though he admitted uncertainty about whether the Kremlin's chief seeks a negotiated settlement.

Since his electoral campaign in 2024, Trump has repeatedly claimed that the full-scale invasion would not have started if he had been in office at the time and pledged to broker an end within 24 hours. He and his team have since shifted rhetoric and acknowledged complexities in resolving the war.

When asked about the expired 24-hour deadline, Rubio evaded commenting on any possible timeframe and merely said that ending the war would be the "priority" and "policy of the United States."

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The Kyiv IndependentChris York

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