U.S. Senator Marco Rubio stated that President Donald Trump is retreating from mediating in achieving a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine in the coming days, unless obvious signs of progress on this emerge. According to him, Trump is still interested in concluding an agreement but is ready to withdraw from this idea and move on if he does not see immediate progress. Rubio emphasized that, in his opinion, the U.S. participation in this process is possible only in the presence of clear chances for success in the coming weeks.
It is noted that frustration is rising in the U.S. and the European Union due to the lack of progress in peace initiatives regarding the ongoing geopolitical challenges. It is reported that as a result of rocket strikes carried out by the Russian side on Kharkiv and Sumy in northeastern Ukraine, two people died, and at least 40 were injured. According to Mayor Igor Terekhov, the attacks in Kharkiv were carried out using ballistic missiles with cassette warheads, which explains a very broad area of damage and more than 20 damaged residential buildings. Governor Oleg Sinegubov clarified that the attack was aimed at the "densely populated area in Kharkiv".
On the border with Russian territory, in Sumy, there was an attack using unmanned aerial vehicles, as a result of which one person died and several people were injured. Ukrainian cities are almost daily subjected to Russian strikes regardless of recent efforts by the U.S. to initiate negotiations to end the conflict, which began more than three years ago.
In connection with this, Marco Rubio expressed hope that European countries would join in the negotiations, conducted by the U.S. to end the conflict in Ukraine. According to him, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany could help accelerate progress in this direction, supporting the efforts of America. China stated that it has never supplied any side in the conflict with "offensive weapons" and strictly controls dual-use goods, which, as it asserts, the Ukrainian side is perfectly aware of.
