Rubio denies Zelenskyy’s claim that the US asked Ukraine to cede land to Russia for security deal

PARIS — On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio turned down Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's claim that the Trump administration is asking Kyiv to give Russia control of its eastern Donbas territory in exchange for American security guarantees in any peace proposal.

After a Group of Seven summit in France, Rubio told reporters that Zelenskyy's recent comments were not true and that the U.S. has not made any such demands in its talks with Ukraine.

Rubio answered, "That's a lie." "And I saw him say that." It's very bad he said that since he knows it's not true and it's not what he was informed.

Zelenskyy told Reuters in an interview this week that the U.S. was only willing to give Ukraine security guarantees if it gave up the Donbas region, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has long wanted. Moscow's troops control most of the area, but they haven't taken a stretch of land that is one of the most heavily fortified areas of the front line.

Zelenskyy added that President Donald Trump wants to stop the war in Ukraine while the U.S. is focused on its fight with Iran.

Zelenskyy told Reuters, "The Americans are ready to finalize these guarantees at a high level once Ukraine is ready to leave Donbas."

Rubio stated that Zelenskyy's claims were false and that the U.S. had just passed on Russia's demands. He stated that security guarantees could only come once the conflict was over and that the U.S. will remain pushing for a peace settlement.

"We've told the Ukrainians what the Russians want," he said. "We're not pushing for it. We told them what it was. They have to decide. We can't make it for them. We have never told them they have to take it or leave it. We have tried to find out what each party wants and see if we can find a way to meet in the middle.

The office of the president of Ukraine did not want to remark on the difference.

Putin wants Kyiv to give over control of the whole Donbas region. Analysts think that this would provide Moscow a permanent base from which to attack other parts of Ukraine.

Rubio said that the U.S. and Ukrainians talked last week in Florida, but there are no more meetings planned at this time. He also noted that no U.S. weaponry have been taken off the market and sent to the Middle East instead of Ukraine, but that might change if it is necessary.

Rubio added, "If we need something for America and it's American, we're going to keep it for America first." "But right now, that hasn't happened."

The Associated Press says that American Patriot air-defense missiles have been relocated from Europe to the Middle East because the U.S. is shifting resources to its attack on Iran. Zelenskyy has said that Kyiv will "definitely" run out of Patriot systems because of the battle with Iran.