Lawrence Freedman
On 27 April US Secretary of State Marco Rubio observed that the Trump administration would soon decide whether to continue to try to negotiate an end to the Russo-Ukraine War or give up and move on to other matters:
‘We have to make a determination about whether this is an endeavor that we want to continue to be involved in or if it’s time to sort of focus on some other issues that are equally if not more important in some cases.’
He wanted the effort to succeed:
‘There are reasons to be optimistic, but there are reasons to be realistic of course as well. We’re close, but we’re not close enough.’
This followed up a similar warning he had made ten days’ earlier when he warned that a determination would have to be made soon as to whether this was ‘doable’.
That previous announcement had sparked a flurry of activity, including a typical Putin gesture of a unilaterally announced Easter truce, which he dared Ukraine to respect. At most this led to a slight and very temporary reduction in military activity. Of greater significance were conversations between Trump’s preferred envoy (on almost anything) Steve Witkoff and Putin, as well as some meetings in Europe, although a big one expected to involve both Rubio and Zelenskyy was postponed.
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