Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU) expressed his hope, following a phone conversation with his US counterpart Marco Rubio, that the Donald Trump administration would become more engaged in negotiations regarding the Ukraine conflict. Wadephul told the news portal T-Online, “I still believe that the Americans can play a role. I am very satisfied with our collaboration; it is constructive and positive.”
He noted that while the Ukraine portfolio has primarily been handled by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Rubio has not been deeply involved yet. However, Wadephul suggested that they might identify common ground concerning Ukraine. Despite this, the conversation with Rubio yielded no concrete progress.
“We completely agree that this war must ultimately be resolved through negotiations,” Wadephul stated. “My American colleague agrees with this view, but we both also see that Putin is currently unwilling to comply.” He added that “the greatest willingness to mediate unfortunately cannot move him, as we had to witness last summer in Anchorage.”
In Anchorage, Alaska, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met last year, but those talks were prematurely concluded without results. Looking ahead, the German foreign minister mentioned that a G20 summit under American presidency is planned for the end of the year, and the Russian president is normally a participant, making a trip to Washington a possibility.
Nevertheless, regarding potential negotiations, Wadephul argued that the ball is currently in Moscow’s court. “There will come a time when they in the Kremlin decide on serious negotiations. I do not know when that will be,” he said. However, he stressed that a prerequisite for peace is clearly Putin’s recognition that nothing more can be achieved on the battlefield. His work, he concluded, is dedicated to the goal of that moment finally arriving, when suffering and death finally end.
