Marco Rubio expects ‘negotiated settlement’ in Russia-Ukraine conflict

Marco Rubio is warning about additional trouble in the Middle East.

Florida’s senior Senator says it’s only a matter of time before Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy are compelled to figure out an ending to their countries’ ongoing territorial conflict.

“I’m not on Russia’s side, but, unfortunately, the reality of it is that the way the war in Ukraine is going to end is with a negotiated settlement,” U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio said on “Meet the Press.”

Rubio also said that former President Donald Trump, who says he wants a “fair deal” between Ukraine and the country that invaded it, wants Ukraine “to have more leverage in that negotiation.”

The Senator says he “would be comfortable with a deal that ends these hostilities, and that … is favorable to Ukraine, meaning that they have their own sovereignty, that they don’t become a satellite state or a puppet state that is constantly held hostage by the Russians.”

“I’m not going to prejudge any agreement,” Rubio said.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and hostilities are very much ongoing. At this writing Monday morning, there are reports of air raid sirens and bombing in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.

The Senator also thinks Joe Biden’s White House understands that the countries will have to negotiate.

“The Biden administration has not defined what victory means in Ukraine. They have not defined, ‘This is what victory looks like,’ and if you press them, they will tell you what I have just said to you, which is the way this conflict ultimately ends, with a negotiation. I don’t know why we can’t just say that,” Rubio said.

“We hope that when that time comes, there is more leverage on the Ukrainian side than on the Russian side. That really is the goal here in my mind. I think that’s what Donald Trump is trying to say, but he’s going to say it like a businessman. But Biden won’t even tell us what victory is.”