U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has snubbed his European foreign ministry counterparts by pulling out of peace talks arranged in London. CGTN’s Iolo ap Dafydd explains what effects this will have on efforts to secure peace after three years of military conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
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00:00The Russia-Ukraine ceasefire talks in London are downgraded as the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and Special Envoy Steve Vitkoff pulled out.
00:08Now, President Trump's Ukraine envoy, General Keith Kellogg, is attending and is meeting officials from the UK, France, Germany and Ukraine.
00:16The British Foreign Minister, David Lammy, has met Ukraine's Foreign Minister as well.
00:20And Rubio spoke to Lammy on Tuesday evening saying he hoped for a substantive and good technical meetings.
00:26But by pulling out, it is a diplomatic snub.
00:30And Lammy acknowledges that this is a critical moment for Ukraine, Britain and Euro-Atlantic security, he says.
00:37Especially as the White House has confirmed that Steve Vitkoff is travelling for his fourth face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
00:44It confirms the direct dialogue now between American and Russian officials.
00:49And the discussions to agree on a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, but without European leaders and without President Zelenskyy of Ukraine being involved in those talks.
01:01And this follows a report in the Financial Times newspaper that Russia might stop its attacks and give up some territorial ambitions inside Ukraine
01:10if the US government recognises that the Crimean Peninsula is a part of Russia.
01:17Now, Zelenskyy has rejected that continually, saying that Russia's control on the Crimea, and if it happens, it would violate Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
01:28Europe's officials see it as a false concession.
01:31Putin does not control the Ukrainian land, he says he'd give up.
01:34And secondly, the Europeans fear that Trump's desire to agree a quick peace deal would force this arrangement on Kyiv, and potentially agree to other Moscow demands too.
01:46One European diplomat is quoted as saying,
01:48you don't give up something you don't have, and this is just to trick the Americans into doing a deal.
01:55There isn't much international trust at the moment, especially as European leaders and Ukraine's government are excluded from these peace negotiations.
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