RT reported that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that a number of foreign governments are obstructing efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine in the context of high-ranking US and Russian officials having just held a 12-hour talks on March 24 in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) on this issue.
In addition to discussing how to address the problem in Ukraine, officials also sought measures to ensure maritime security in the Black Sea - where the US military and the Houthi forces are facing tensions. However, the two sides have not yet announced details of the developments or the results of the discussion.
Speaking at a White House meeting before the talks ended, Mr. Rubio emphasized that diplomacy was the best way to resolve the conflict, and praised President Donald Trump as the only one who could bring Russia and Ukraine to the negotiation table.
Secretary of State Rubio noted that President Trump's diplomatic initiative has faced opposition from several other governments, but did not name any country. President Trump has done so despite obstacles from other countries, Rubio said.
According to RT, through phone calls last week, President Trump was the one who persuaded Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to agree a temporary ceasefire, stopping attacks on each other's energy infrastructure for 30 days.
However, the Russian Defense Ministry later said that Ukraine was still conducting airstrikes on targets in the agreement. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov affirmed that Moscow will maintain a ceasefire on energy facilities even though Kiev has unilaterally broken them.
On March 23, Mr. Peskov also criticized the approaches of the EU and the UK when they continuously discussed the deployment of NATO troops in Ukraine instead of seeking peace and resolving the root cause of the conflict.
After an emergency summit in London earlier this month, the UK and France said they were ready to deploy peacekeeping forces with up to 10,000 Western soldiers to Ukraine after a full ceasefire came into effect.
Moscow immediately rejected the proposal, asserting that regardless of the name, the presence of NATO troops on Ukrainian territory would be unacceptable. Deputy head of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev warned that this could lead to a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia.
