US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday, the 29th of April, that now is the time for Moscow and Kyiv to present concrete proposals to end the war in Ukraine and warned that the US will abandon efforts to help resolve the conflict if there is no progress, according to Reuters.
At a later UN Security Council meeting, US diplomat John Kelley accused Russia of continuing the bloodshed, saying it had “unfortunately” carried out large-scale strikes “causing unnecessary loss of life, including innocent civilians”.
“Russia now has an excellent opportunity to achieve a lasting peace,” Kelly said, while adding that the responsibility for ending the war lies with Russia and Ukraine.
“It is up to the leaders of these two countries to decide whether peace is possible. If both sides are ready to end the war, the US will fully support both sides on the path to lasting peace,” he said.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce quoted Rubio as saying that the time has come for “both sides to make concrete proposals to end this conflict”.
“How we proceed is a decision for the President. If there is no progress, we as mediators will withdraw from this process,” Bruce said at a press briefing, referring to President Donald Trump, who has sought an agreement to end the conflict but has made clear his impatience.
BNN has already reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday announced a three-day ceasefire from the 8th to 10th of May, to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies in the Second World War. On Tuesday, the Kremlin also rejected Ukraine’s call for a ceasefire lasting at least 30 days and starting immediately.
BRUCE TOLD REPORTERS THAT THE US WANTED A “COMPLETE, LASTING CEASEFIRE AND AN END TO THE CONFLICT”, NOT “A THREE-DAY MOMENT TO CELEBRATE SOMETHING ELSE”.
UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council that recent peace efforts had raised hopes, but that despite Russian announcements of a three-day ceasefire at Easter, fighting continued and attacks on energy facilities continued during the previous 30-day pause.
At the Security Council, France and the UK praised US mediation while criticising Russia for launching a full-scale invasion in 2022.
French European Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that Kyiv had shown goodwill and called Putin the only obstacle to a ceasefire, seeking Ukraine’s “capitulation”.
Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, denied that Russia had targeted civilians and accused Ukraine of using human shields and rejecting fair peace offers.
BNN has already reported that last week the US presented its own proposals to end the war and Europe and Ukraine theirs, which differed on several issues, from territory to sanctions.
He also claimed that Ukraine was attacking Russian civilians, while saying that it was becoming increasingly difficult for Western backers of the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to hide its “brutal, misanthropic and Nazi nature”.
In response, Mariana Betsa, Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister, said that Russia wants Ukraine to surrender, but peace cannot be achieved at any price. She stressed that Ukraine will never accept Russia’s control of occupied territories, including Crimea.