US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced the US side’s Plan A and Plan B to end Russia’s war against Ukraine. He made this announcement during an interview with CBS News.
According to Rubio, without the implementation of Plan A, it is impossible to move to Plan B.
“This is a complex, three-year war that’s been ongoing along a very long military front, with a lot of complexity to it. So no one’s claiming that it’s easy, but I want everyone to understand, here’s the plan. Plan A is, get the shooting to stop so that we can move to Plan B, phase two, which is have everybody at a table, maybe not- maybe with some shuttle diplomacy, to figure out a way to permanently end this war in a way that’s enduring and it respects everybody’s needs and so forth,” he said.
According to the Secretary of State, this phase involves bringing everyone together, potentially through shuttle diplomacy, to find a lasting solution to the war. Rubio added that this needs to be done in a way that is durable and “respects everyone’s needs.”
Rubio stated that we can only achieve the second part after “we get past the first part.”
“It’s hard to negotiate an enduring end of a war as long as they’re shooting at each other, and so the president wants a ceasefire. That’s what we’re working on, assuming we can get that done. That won’t be easy in and of itself. We move to the second phase, which is negotiating something more enduring and permanent. That will be hard,” Rubio said.
This will require a lot of hard work and concessions on both sides, the secretary of state added.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is known to have been in Russia and met with Vladimir Putin last week to discuss the US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire.
Trump himself said that the American side had a “very good and productive discussion” with the Kremlin leader. He said that there is now “a very good chance that this terrible, bloody war can finally end.”
Witkoff expressed confidence that in the coming weeks, the American side will be able to make progress in resolving Russia’s war against Ukraine.
