Rubio: Witkoff's Talks With Zelensky in Oslo Were Positive

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday, during a visit to India, that talks in Oslo between Steve Witkoff, special envoy of US President Donald Trump, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were positive. The comments matter because Witkoff is expected to travel to St. Petersburg to present the ideas to the Russian side, as part of efforts to end Russia's war against Ukraine.

According to Rubio, the talks contained nothing unexpected or surprising. He said Witkoff, "armed with these ideas", could now share them with Russian representatives, after which it would become clear whether any progress is possible. The secretary of state acknowledged the difficulty of ending the war, saying that if it were easy to resolve, it would have been resolved long ago.

The Starlink and Starshield question

Rubio also insisted that the White House had no advance information about a speed reduction for satellite communications provided by Elon Musk's company SpaceX, which Ukraine uses in operations against Russian aggression. In his words, the president has nothing to do with decisions made by the Starlink and Starshield systems or by Musk himself, as it is a private company that the president cannot direct.

Trump has denied ordering a reduction of Starshield speed. This followed a statement by Musk, whose company developed the system, that such an order could only have come from the White House. The Wall Street Journal, however, reported on Tuesday that it was Musk himself who ordered the speed of the military-grade Starlink version to be cut. Rubio told reporters in Mumbai that Washington would "no longer defend itself on this issue".

US assistance to Ukraine

Rubio asserted that without US assistance, including under the Trump administration, Ukraine would not exist today as a sovereign state.