NATO Chief Mark Rutte is set to visit Washington between Thursday and Friday for meetings with high-ranking US officials.
A NATO press release on Wednesday says Rutte will meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz during his visit.
While the scope of the meetings is not mentioned, the announcement came as the US proposal to help end Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has seemingly hit a dead end, with Rubio and US Vice President JD Vance hinting at a US withdrawal if no consensus is reached between the parties.
Rubio also canceled his trip to London, leading to the downgrade of a meeting with Kyiv and its key Western allies. This cancellation sparked rampant speculation as to Rubio’s decision.
Officials reportedly told various media that Moscow asked Washington to recognize Crimea as Russian in exchange for giving up its earlier maximalist demand of occupying all five Ukrainian regions, a clause Kyiv ruled as a non-starter.
Rutte and Rubio held a phone call on April 18, in which Rubio briefed Rutte “on the peace proposal presented yesterday to the Ukrainian delegation in Paris and to Russian officials by telephone,” according to a state department press release.
The press release also reiterated Washington’s signal to pull out of the talks due to a lack of achievement.
“The Secretary stressed, while our nation has been committed to helping end the war, if a clear path to peace does not emerge soon, the United States will step back from efforts to broker peace,” it adds.
Europe previously said a US “backstop” is necessary when deploying European peacekeeping forces – what some called a “reassurance force” – to Ukraine as part of a future peace deal.