The United States remains ready to serve as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine, Marco Rubio said on Tuesday, after speaking with the head of Russian diplomacy, who called on the embassies to evacuate kyiv in anticipation of new bombings.
American-mediated negotiations to end the deadliest conflict in Europe since the Second World War have been at a standstill since the outbreak of war in the Middle East on February 28.
Russian diplomacy called on Monday foreign nationals living in kyiv, including diplomatic staff, to leave the Ukrainian capital before further Russian bombings. What his leader Sergei Lavrov repeated to his American counterpart Marco Rubio during a rare call.
Tripartite discussions are at a standstill
New “strikes will be carried out on decision-making centers” and “companies of the military-industrial complex” in kyiv, his ministry warned, without giving a precise time frame before these attacks. “We warn foreign nationals, including staff of diplomatic missions and representations of international organizations, of the need to leave the city as soon as possible, and residents of the Ukrainian capital not to approach military and administrative infrastructure,” he added.
Despite this warning on kyiv, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is traveling to India, stressed Tuesday that “the United States (was) ready and willing to do everything in its power to facilitate the end of this war, and we hope “that the opportunity will present itself at some point.”
The administration of US President Donald Trump pushed for an end to the fighting by organizing rounds of negotiations between the two camps in Abu Dhabi, as well as in February in Geneva.
But since then, the tripartite discussions have been de facto frozen even though Moscow and kyiv both say they are ready to resume them. Progress towards an end to the conflict is slow, particularly due to differences over the territorial question.
The announcement of upcoming Russian bombings in the Ukrainian capital comes after particularly massive Russian strikes targeted Ukraine during the weekend, particularly the capital, leaving at least four dead and around a hundred injured. Russia fired a latest generation missile, the Orechnik, for the third time since the start of the conflict.
