US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not be attending talks in London on the war in Ukraine, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said on Tuesday, after earlier saying he planned to travel to London.
Rubio had been expected to take part in the discussions with Ukrainian, UK, and European officials, but State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Tuesday that he would no longer attend due to “logistical issues.”
Bruce, speaking to reporters at a regular news briefing, said the talks will go ahead and that President Donald Trump’s Ukraine envoy, General Keith Kellogg, was in London and would attend.
“Well, I do know, yes, that General (Keith) Kellogg is there, and so he will be having those conversations. So we look forward to hearing back from him about whether or not we’ve had some success in London,” she added.
President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, will represent the US instead, Bruce said. The talks follow a meeting in Paris last week in which officials from the US, the United Kingdom, France and Germany discussed a US framework for a ceasefire.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky made clear Tuesday that he was open to talks with Russia, but that Kyiv would not accept a deal that recognizes Moscow’s control of Crimea.
“Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea,” he told reporters. “There is nothing to talk about. It is against our constitution.”
