US Secretary of State Marco Rubio refused to travel to Britain after Ukraine declined to relinquish its territories to Russia. The foreign ministers of the UK, France, Germany, and Ukraine postponed their high-level Ukrainian peace talks. Discussions were held among senior officials from five countries – Ukraine, the US, the UK, Germany, and France.
Rubio was expected to attend the meeting in London, but he opted out because Ukraine rejected a key aspect of the Trump administration’s peace plan: recognizing Crimea as Russian. This stance has support from EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas. The White House was also disappointed that Ukraine initially wanted to discuss a full ceasefire before addressing the remaining issues. Following the cancellation of Rubio’s trip, France and Germany are likely to cancel their ministers’ visits as well.
Additionally, the US was meant to be represented at the London meeting by special envoy Steve Witkoff. However, he also canceled his trip but is preparing to visit Russia for the fourth time at the end of the week to meet with Putin.