Rubio hopeful about Ukraine and Gaza peace efforts but clear on challenges

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during the news conference on Friday (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was hopeful but clear about the challenges facing the Trump administration’s Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas peace efforts and defended increasing US military pressure on Venezuela during an end-of-year news conference on Friday.

Over more than two hours, Mr Rubio offered no predictions for timing or success on any of those three issues.

He also said he was proud of President Donald Trump’s radical overhaul in foreign assistance and that the administration was working to reach a humanitarian ceasefire in Sudan in time for the new year.

Mr Rubio’s lengthy appearance in the State Department briefing room came as key meetings on Gaza and Russia-Ukraine are being held in Miami on Friday and Saturday after a tumultuous year in US foreign policy.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio answered questions from reporters at the State Department (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)

Mr Rubio has assumed the additional role of national security adviser and emerged as a staunch defender of Mr Trump’s “America First” priorities on issues ranging from visa restrictions to a shake-up of the State Department bureaucracy.

He spoke about peace efforts as national security officials from Britain, France and Germany were taking part in talks in Florida with Ukraine’s lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, and envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to discuss the latest iteration of Mr Trump’s Ukraine-Russia peace proposal.

A White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mr Witkoff and Mr Kushner, who is Mr Trump’s son-in-law, also would see Egyptian, Turkish and Qatari officials on Friday for talks on how to get to the next phase of Mr Trump’s plan to end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Progress on Mr Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan has moved slowly since it was announced in October.

US officials have been pushing to get the plan implemented by setting up a “Board of Peace” that would oversee the territory after two years of war and create an international stabilisation force that would police the area.

“I think we owe them a few more answers before we get there,” Mr Rubio said when asked about contributions to the stabilisation force.

After establishing the Board of Peace and a Palestinian technocratic group to govern Gaza, “that will allow us to firm up the stabilisation force, including how it’s going to be paid for, what the rules of engagement are, what their role will be in demilitarisation”.

In a whirlwind of diplomacy, Mr Witkoff and Mr Kushner are also set to meet on Saturday with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s adviser Kirill Dmitriev in Miami, officials said. Mr Rubio, who will be at his home in Florida for the holidays, said he would probably attend the meeting.

Both sides will have to make concessions if you’re going to have a deal. You may not have a deal. We may not have a deal. It’s unfortunate

But he said there would be no peace deal unless both Ukraine and Russia can agree to the terms, making it impossible for the US to force a deal on anyone. Instead, the US is trying to “figure out if we can nudge both sides to a common place”.

“We understand that you’re not going to have a deal unless both sides have to give, and both sides have to get,” Mr Rubio said.

“Both sides will have to make concessions if you’re going to have a deal. You may not have a deal. We may not have a deal. It’s unfortunate.”

The US proposal has been through numerous versions with Mr Trump seesawing back and forth between offering support and encouragement for Ukraine and then seemingly sympathising with Mr Putin’s hardline stances by pushing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to agree to territorial concessions.

Kyiv has rejected that concession in return for security guarantees intended to protect Ukraine from future Russian incursions.

On Venezuela, Mr Rubio has been a leading proponent of military operations against suspected drug-running vessels targeted in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since early September.

The actions have ramped up pressure on leftist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has been charged with narco-terrorism in the US.

Mr Rubio defended Mr Trump’s prerogatives on Venezuela and said the administration believes “nothing has happened that requires us to notify Congress or get congressional approval or cross the threshold into war”.

He added: “We have very strong legal opinions.”

In an NBC News interview on Friday, Mr Trump would not rule out a war with Venezuela.

Mr Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth have publicly maintained that the current operations are directed at “narco-terrorists” trying to smuggle deadly drugs into the United States.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro addresses supporters during a rally (Ariana Cubillos/AP)

Mr Maduro has insisted the real purpose is to force him from office. Mr Rubio sidestepped a direct question about whether the US wants “regime change in 2026” in the South American country.

“We have a regime that’s illegitimate, that co-operates with Iran, that co-operates with Hezbollah, that co-operates with narco-trafficking and narco-terrorist organisations,” Mr Rubio said, “including not just protecting their shipments and allowing them to operate with impunity, but also allows some of them to control territory.”

Mr Trump has spoken of wanting to be remembered as a “peacemaker”, but ceasefires his administration helped craft are already in trouble thanks to renewed military action between Cambodia and Thailand as well as Rwanda and Congo.

Mr Rubio, however, said those deals created a list of commitments that can now be used to push the parties back to peace.

“Those commitments today are not being kept,” Mr Rubio said of the Thailand-Cambodia conflict, which now threatens to reignite following Thai airstrikes.

“The work now is to bring them back to the table.”

Since taking over the department, Mr Rubio has moved swiftly to implement Mr Trump’s “America First” agenda, helping dismantle the US.Agency for International Development (USAid)and reducing the size of the diplomatic corps through a significant reorganisation.

Previous administrations have distributed billions of dollars in foreign assistance over the past five decades through USAid.

Critics have said the decision to eliminate USAid and slash foreign aid spending has cost lives overseas, although Mr Rubio and others have denied this, pointing to ongoing disaster relief operations in the Philippines, the Caribbean and elsewhere, along with new global health compacts being signed with countries that previously had programs run by USAid.

“We have a limited amount of money that can be dedicated to foreign aid and humanitarian assistance,” Mr Rubio said. “And that has to be applied in a way that furthers our national interest.”