US Secretary of State Marco Rubio before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Washington, D.C., May 21, 2025 (CBS News)
EA on TVP World: Putin’s Last Gamble — Using Trump to Defeat Ukraine
EA-Times Radio VideoCast: Can Ukraine and Europe Block Putin’s Manipulation of Trump?
Wednesday’s Coverage: Zelensky — “Important That America Remain Engaged”
Map: Institute for the Study of War
UPDATE 1302 GMT:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has confirmed that the Kremlin has no interest in negotiations for a ceasefire in Ukraine.
“We have already been in these stories, we don’t want this anymore,” Lavrov said. He criticized the Ukraine-Europe initiative, supported by the US, for a 30-day halt to attacks as a “let’s have a ceasefire and then we’ll see” tactic.
The Foreign Minister repeated Vladimir Putin’s maximum demands through the phrase that the “root causes” must be resolved before Russia stops its invasion.
Those “root causes” include Russia’s demands for annexation of four Ukrainian regions plus Crimea; a weak, demilitarized, and “neutral” Ukraine with no significant security guarantees from partners; an end to sanctions on Moscow; and possibly the fall of the Zelensky Government.
After his call with Putin on Monday, Trump acknowledged to Zelensky and European leaders that Putin is not ready for peace because he believes his invasion is succeeding. The Europeans were “surprised” or “shocked” that Trump was “relatively content” with what he heard from Putin.
UPDATE 0915 GMT:
Four Chechen officers from a Russian-backed unit were killed in a car bombing near the occupied city of Skadovsk in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine.
The initial blast was followed by more explosions, as the officers were allegedly transporting ammunition.
Ukrainian intelligence did not claim responsibility for the incident, but it said, “There will be just retribution for every war crime committed against the Ukrainian people.”
UPDATE 0903 GMT:
Two civilians have been killed and 27 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past 24 hours.
Air defenses downed 74 of 128 drones launched by Russia overnight. Another 38 were lost to electronic counter-measures.
A man was killed and two elderly women injured by a Russian guided bomb that struck a residential building in the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine.
An 85-year-old woman was killed by Russian shelling early Tuesday morning in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine.
Casualties were reported elsewhere in Kharkiv and Kherson and in the Zaporizhzhia region.
UPDATE 0718 GMT:
Moscow shut down all four of its airports on Thursday because of Ukrainian drones.
Airports in the nearby areas of Tambov and Vladimir were also closed.
The Russian Defense Ministry declared that 105 Ukrainian drones were downed, including 35 intercepted over the Moscow region.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian drones struck Russia’s Bolkhov semiconductor plant in the Oryol region in westenr Ukraine. The complex produces parts for Sukhoi warplanes and Iskander and Kinzhal missiles.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: In a Congressional hearing on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio repeatedly declined to call Vladimir Putin a “war criminal”.
Putin is the subject of an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court in March 2023 over Russian forces’ deportation of tens of thousands of Ukrainian children.
Those forces launch daily, deadly missile and drone strikes on civilian sites across Ukraine. They have carried out mass killings of civilians on the ground, as well as executions of captured Ukrainian troops.
Yesterday, in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Bill Keating asked Rubio, “The person we’re negotiating with, Vladimir Putin, is he a war criminal?”
Rubio evaded the question, “Well, I think you can look at instances that have happened there and certainly characterize them as war crimes, but our intent is to end the war.”
Keating pressed, “Is he a war criminal?” Rubio opined, “We can’t end the war without talking to Mr. Putin.”
The representative expanded his question: “That’s pretty simple: is he a war criminal? This man we’re negotiating with, Vladimir Putin, is he a war criminal? That’s not tough.”
Rubio repeated, “I’m trying to answer your question by telling you that we’re trying to end the war here.”
Keating encouraged Rubio to expand the reply, “Go ahead.” But the Secretary of State refused, “No, it’s not a simple answer.”
Keating tried a fifth time, “You are equivocating. You are equivocating, sir. Just answer the question.” Rubio said:
I’m answering your question, and the answer is that war crimes have been committed, no doubt, and who is responsible for that? There will be time and place for that accountability. But right now, the job is to end the war.
Keating conceded in exasperation, “So you won’t answer the question.”
Rubio laughed.
In 2017 Rubio, then a Senator, asked Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson the question put to him yesterday by Keating. When Tillerson also refused to answer, Rubio denouncing his evasions.
Trump Administration Blocks Criticism of Kremlin
Rubio’s statement on Wednesday accompanied the Trump Administration’s has objected to the mention of “further support” for Ukraine in a joint statement by G7 finance ministers.
Canada, chairing the G7, is hosting the finance ministers this week. The summit is a precursor to the summit of G7 heads of state on June 15-17.
The Administration also refused to label Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine as “illegal”, officials said.
Since taking office in January, while pursuing direct talks with the Kremlin, Trump officials have blocked UN and G7 statements referring to Russia’s “aggression”. On the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, they undermined a resolution condemning the assault.
Last month, they refused to support a G7 joint statement condemning Russia’s deadly strikes on Sumy city, which killed 35 people and injured 119 on Palm Sunday.
See also Ukraine War, Day 1,146: Mourning Victims of Russia’s Mass Murder in Sumy
The Administration has also vetoed a proposal for a task force tracking the Russian “shadow fleet” of tankers, and has closed the US Government office investigating Moscow’s crimes against humanity.
