Ukraine struggle: “He knows it’s not true” – Rubio accuses Zelensky of mendacity about Donbass | EUROtoday

According to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the USA doesn’t make safety ensures for Ukraine depending on Kiev giving up Donbass. Zelensky’s statements to this impact are a lie, Rubio mentioned on Friday after a gathering of the G-7 international ministers in France.

Zelensky mentioned in an interview with the Reuters information company that the US was making its provide of safety ensures for Ukraine conditional on the cession of Donbass. “The Americans are ready to agree on these guarantees at a high level as soon as Ukraine is ready to withdraw from Donbass,” Zelenskyy informed Reuters.

“That’s a lie,” Rubio mentioned Friday. “And I saw him say that. It’s unfortunate that he said that because he knows it’s not true and he wasn’t told that.”

Rubio mentioned the U.S. authorities is mediating and spoke with Ukrainian officers in Florida final week. “We told the Ukrainian side what the Russians are insisting on,” he mentioned. “We never told them to take it or leave it.” The USA defined Moscow’s calls for. “It’s not up to us to decide for them,” Rubio mentioned. No additional discussions have been scheduled but.

When contacted by the AP information company, the Ukrainian presidential workplace declined to touch upon the allegation.

The seize of Donbass in japanese Ukraine is one in all Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin’s most essential struggle objectives. Although its troops have captured a lot of the area, Ukraine holds a strip of land that’s among the many most closely fortified components of the entrance line. A withdrawal from these positions would supply Putin with a place to begin from which to threaten different components of Ukraine.

Rubio additionally contradicted an AP report that the US had introduced weapons meant for Ukraine from Europe to the Middle East. “If we need something for America and it is American, we will keep it for America first,” Rubio mentioned. “But that hasn’t happened yet.”