« Significantly more difficult to reach results » if the United States leaves peace calls

It was the day after US Foreign Minister Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff met European and Ukrainian representatives in Paris that Rubio stated.

– If it is not possible to end the war in Ukraine, we must move on.

According to the Trump administration Foreign Minister will such a decision will need to be made within the next few days.

« It is not our war, it was not us who started it, » Rubio said, explaining that it is not the only conflict in the world.

Johan Huovinen, military expert at the Swedish Defense College, comments on the message from the White House:

– Of course they could pull out. But on the other hand, Trump said he could end the war for a short while. So that would be an American failure.

What would it mean for the chance to come closer to a peace?

– Then it becomes much more difficult to achieve results. There are others who aspire to be involved. Like France with the UK and maybe Germany. Then the large European powers would have to shoulder a bigger role. Nor should you forget Turkey. Istanbul has previously been used as a negotiation site.

But Johan Huovinen points out that even a joint European effort would find it difficult to get to fertile peace talks.

– The United States is still superpower and Russia wants the United States to play this role, because then Russia gets a more direct dialogue with the United States. If the Europeans become, then Russia’s international status drops.

US special envoys Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in Russia last week, the third meeting between the men. A few days after the meeting, Russian robots were sent against the city of Sumy in Ukraine, where 35 civilians died. Something that Donald Trump called « awful », but he heard that « it was a mistake ».

The meeting between Rubio/Witkoff and the European leaders in Paris ended up in a decision on a new meeting in London next week. Next week, the United States and Ukraine are also expected to sign the so -called mineral agreement between the countries, Trump declared during a press conference in the White House. The mineral agreement is broadly about the US being able to take part in the profits from Ukraine’s mining industry, as compensation for the military support that has been received since the Russian invasion.