Marco Rubio: Ukraine ceasefire should be US policy

Marco Rubio, the Florida senator nominated by Donald Trump for secretary of state, says the conflict between Russia and Ukraine ‘has to end’, and a ceasefire should be US policy.

Marco Rubio testifies before a Senate foreign relations committee hearing on his nomination to be secretary of state, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday. Picture: AFP

Marco Rubio has called for an end to the war in Ukraine, saying that agreeing to a ceasefire should ­become official US policy.

The Florida senator nominated by Donald Trump for secretary of state said that, nearly three years on from Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine, the conflict “has to end”.

“This is not going to be an easy endeavour, but it’s going to require bold diplomacy. It is important for everyone to be ­realistic,” Senator Rubio said.

“There will have to be concessions made by the Russian Federation, but also by the Ukrainians.”

Senator Rubio’s position has shifted in recent months after previously saying he was wary of a ceasefire that would reward Russia with parts of Ukrainian territory occupied since February 2022.

Mr Trump, who returns to the US presidency on Tuesday AEDT, has declared several times that the war should end and that he can negotiate a ceasefire within 24 hours. He has also castigated NATO, saying European member states are freeloading off American security guarantees.

Senator Rubio distanced himself from calls for an American withdrawal from NATO during his confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, but said: “What’s important for the United States is not just to have defence allies, it’s to have capable defence allies. I think there is a question to be asked – I’m not stating a public policy position, I’m stating a question to be asked.

“And that is: ‘Should the role of the United States and NATO in the 21st century be the primary ­defence role, or as a backstop to aggression, with countries in the region assuming more of that responsibility by contributing more?’ ”

Senator Rubio stood against Mr Trump for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, and in the Senate had a reputation for bipartisanship. He is a foreign policy specialist and his nomination is expected to be straightforward.

The confirmation for Mr Trump’s nominee for ­attorney-general, Pam Bondi, might not be as straightforward.

As America’s top law enforcement officer, the former Florida attorney-general would be tasked with powering Mr Trump’s regulatory agenda and defending his executive actions in court.

Democrats on the committee honed in on her loyalty to the president-elect, questioning if she would block any effort by Mr Trump to seek retribution for his own criminal investigations.

Ms Bondi denied she would allow Mr Trump to use the justice department to pursue his political enemies. “The partisanship, the weaponisation, will be gone,” she told the Senate judiciary committee. “America will have one tier of justice for all … There will never be an enemies list within the Department of Justice.”

Ms Bondi, 59, represented the president-elect at his first ­impeachment trial and supported his effort to overturn the 2020 election.

Under questioning from Democrats, she said she now accepted the result but repeatedly declined to say that Mr Trump lost. “Do I ­accept the results? Of course I do. Do I agree with what happened? I saw so much,” she said.

Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal countered that her refusal to accept the election ­result from four years ago undermined her insistence that she would run a non-partisan justice department or stand up to Mr Trump’s demands.

The Times