U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s statement
that Washington demanded Ukraine pull its forces from Donbas in exchange for
security guarantees “a lie.”
The secretary made the comment on March 27, after a G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Paris.
"That's a lie … that's not what he was told," Rubio told RFE/RL correspondent.
“I saw him say that, and it's unfortunate he would say that, because he knows that's not true. Security guarantees are not going to kick in until there’s an end to the war… otherwise you're injecting yourself into the war. We've told the Ukrainian side what the Russians are insisting on. We're not advocating for it … it's their choice to make.”
In a March 25 interview with Reuters, Zelenskyy said
the United States had agreed to provide security guarantees to Ukraine on the
condition that the Ukrainian forces withdraw from Donbas.