US ‘testing’ if Russia is serious about peace in Ukraine, says Marco Rubio

The US will know within weeks whether Russia is serious about pursuing peace with Ukraine, the secretary of state has said, warning that Donald Trump was not “going to fall into the trap of endless negotiations” with Moscow.

“We’re testing to see if the Russians are interested in peace,” Marco Rubio told journalists in Brussels after talks with Nato allies. “Their actions – not their words, their actions – will determine whether they’re serious or not, and we intend to find that out sooner rather than later.

“The Russians and [Vladimir] Putin will have to make a decision about whether they’re serious about peace or not,” he added. “If it’s a delay tactic, [Trump]’s not interested in that. We will know soon enough, in a matter of weeks, not months, whether Russia is serious about peace or not.”

Rubio also appeared to strike a more sympathetic tone towards Kyiv, noting that the “Ukrainians have shown a willingness to enter, for example, into a complete ceasefire”.

US officials appear to be growing increasingly impatient with the lack of progress in the ongoing peace negotiations. While Trump continues to publicly suggest that Putin wants to end the war, there is growing recognition within the US administration that the Kremlin is unlikely to back down from its maximalist demands before it commits to peace conditions that would effectively dismantle Ukraine as an independent, functioning state and pull it firmly into Russia’s sphere of influence.

Russia has previously rejected a US proposal for a full and immediate 30-day ceasefire, which Ukraine had agreed to. Meanwhile, neither side appears to be adhering to an earlier agreement to temporarily halt strikes on energy infrastructure during that period.

The German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, pictured with Marco Rubio, said Putin was ‘playing for time by raising ever-new demands’. Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

European allies have been urging Washington to take a tougher stance on Moscow and push for a serious commitment to a ceasefire, with some suggesting that a clear deadline should be set.

Moscow “owes an answer to the United States”, which had “worked very hard to come up with a mediation effort and a ceasefire proposal”, the French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said in Brussels, standing alongside the British foreign minister, David Lammy.

“[Putin] could accept a ceasefire now, he continues to bombard Ukraine, its civilian population, its energy supplies,” said Lammy. “We see you, Vladimir Putin, we know what you are doing.”

There was similar rhetoric among other European allies of Ukraine, with the German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, dismissing Putin’s talk of negotiations as “nothing but empty promises”. She accused the Russian leader of “playing for time by raising ever-new demands”.

The Kremlin this week sent an envoy to Washington, marking the first time since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion that a senior Russian official had travelled to the US for talks with American counterparts.

Putin ‘could accept a ceasefire now’, said David Lammy, left, while his French counterpart, Jean-Noël Barrot, right, said Moscow ‘owes an answer to the United States’. Photograph: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP

Kirill Dmitriev met Steve Witkoff, Trump’s senior adviser on Russia negotiations, as well as Rubio at the White House on Wednesday. Dmitriev described the meetings as evidence of a “positive dynamic” between the two countries and claimed progress had been made towards peace in Ukraine.

Rubio, the US’s top diplomat, took a more cautious stance, saying he hoped Dmitriev would deliver a clear message to Moscow. “He’ll take some messages back, and the message is the United States needs to know whether you’re serious or not about peace,” he said.

Trump has previously suggested he would impose a 25% or even 50% tariff on countries buying Russian oil if he concluded that Putin was obstructing peace talks.

Meanwhile in Ukraine, a local official died in the central city of Dnipro in an apparent car bomb attack. “The official was killed in the attack. His wife was wounded and is currently in hospital,” the general prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The political party Propozytsiya identified the victim as Yuriy Fedko, a member of the Dnipro city council, and said he died while receiving treatment in hospital.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Kyiv has claimed responsibility for a series of assassination attempts targeting military officials and pro-Kremlin public figures. However, it remains rare for a Ukrainian official to be killed in such attacks.