US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with Fox News that Washington will make efforts in the coming weeks to restart negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. “We also understand that both sides have fairly serious red lines, and until we bring these lines closer together, we will not achieve anything,” Rubio said, as quoted by Deutsche Welle.
Rubio said President Donald Trump has instructed his team: “If you see an opportunity to become a force that gives some momentum to peace talks, let's do it.”
The last round of trilateral talks involving the US took place in Geneva on February 17–18. A meeting planned for March 5 in Abu Dhabi was postponed after US and Israeli strikes on Iran began, and the process has stalled without a new date being set.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, at a meeting with Trump at the White House on July 28, said Kyiv continues to seek a ceasefire that could serve as a basis for a subsequent peace. He noted that Russia is “not interested in any form of dialogue” and that stopping the war and achieving a ceasefire is “better than fighting for 10–20 years for victory and losing our people.”
A correspondent for RFE/RL in Washington, citing two sources, reported that Trump's special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner may visit Kyiv in the second half of August during events marking the 35th anniversary of Ukraine's independence. They are expected to discuss new ideas for resuming peace talks, but final details of the trip are still being worked out. If the visit takes place, it would be the first for both to Ukraine, although they have repeatedly visited Russia and met with Vladimir Putin.