Rubio says US expects Russian ceasefire terms ‘in a number of days’

WASHINGTON

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that Washington expects Russia to present broad terms “in a number of days” that would allow progress toward a ceasefire in Ukraine.

“What we’re expecting now, based on the president’s phone conversation yesterday and my conversations over the weekend with Mr. (Sergey) Lavrov, is that at some point here, fairly soon—maybe in a number of days, maybe this week hopefully —the Russian side is going to present terms that they would want to see, just broad terms that would allow us to move towards a ceasefire,” Rubio told lawmakers before the Senate Committee on Appropriations on the State Department’s 2026 budget request.

“We are hoping that will happen. We believe that the term sheet that the Russians produce will tell us a lot about their true intentions,” he said. “If it’s a term sheet that’s realistic and you can work off of it, that’s one thing. If it makes demands that we know are unrealistic, I think that will be indicative.”

On the potential next steps, Rubio said it would be up to President Donald Trump to decide how to respond.

“I can’t speak for him at this moment. I’m not prepared to say, but I think we all know he is aware of both his authorities to sanction and he is well aware of the fact that this bill (to impose sanctions against Russia) was moving in the Senate.”

Rubio also noted his recent trip to Türkiye, where he and Senator Lindsey Graham attended an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Antalya and participated in talks in Istanbul aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.

“It’s one of the reasons why I asked Senator Graham to join me in Türkiye, to engage—when we arrived that night—with our Ukrainian partners as well,” he said, referring to their meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha in Antalya.

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