Rubio: Range of Issues Concerning Ukraine Narrowed, New Round of Talks Scheduled for February 17

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced during the Munich Security Conference progress in resolving the Ukraine conflict. He noted that the range of unresolved issues has "narrowed," although "the most difficult" ones still require solutions. Rubio also confirmed that a new round of negotiations will take place on February 17 in Geneva.

Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State:

"The good news is that the range of issues that need to be addressed to end this war has narrowed. That’s good news. The bad news is that they have narrowed down to the most challenging questions, which still need answers, and work in this direction is not yet complete. We have made progress in the sense that, I believe, for the first time in many years, at least at the technical level, military representatives from both sides met last week. There will be new meetings this upcoming Tuesday, although it may involve different participants. Listen, we will continue to do everything possible to play our role in ending this war."

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov stated that the Trump administration shares Moscow’s approach regarding the need to eliminate the root causes of the conflict in Ukraine. According to him, the sides are guided by the agreements reached in Anchorage. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian side seeks to shift attention away from the negotiation process and avoid substantive discussions of the American plan.