Rubio calls meeting with Ukrainian delegates ‘productive and meaningful’; Zelensky calls out Russia for ‘starting the war’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, after a meeting with the Ukrainian delegation in Geneva on Sunday (Nov 23), said that it was a "productive" and "meaningful" meeting. Rubio said they will come back in around one or two hours, so he will not take questions now. "We've had probably the most productive and meaningful meeting so far in this entire process," he said.

"I think the takeaway from it is, I think this was a very, very meaningful, I would say probably best meeting and day we've had so far in this entire process going back to when we first came into office in January," he added. The Ukrainian delegation echoed the same statement. Rubio said the talks were an "ongoing process" and would resume "later tonight," adding that they might be able to answer questions then, and then "Let's get back to work."

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media that Russia started the war, is refusing to end it, and is trying to preserve its ability to continue fighting "and not only against Ukraine".

"The crux of the entire diplomatic situation is that it was Russia, and only Russia, that started this war, and it is Russia, and only Russia, that has been refusing to end it throughout the full-scale invasion. From the very first minutes of February 24, Putin has been waging this war with complete disregard for how many of his own people he loses and how many of ours he kills," Zelensky wrote on X.

"Russian commanders are not merely inclined to act brutally – they receive explicit orders allowing them to kill however they please. That is why Russia’s war is so bloody, taking lives both on the front lines and in peaceful Ukrainian cities. That is why Russia not only kills adults but also abducts children and tries to re-educate them so that they will take part in the war once they grow up," he added.