Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously called for an end to the fighting, describing it as a proxy war between Russia and the US

Moscow agrees with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's recent assessment that the Ukraine conflict is essentially a proxy war between Russia and the US, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

Speaking to Fox News on Wednesday, Rubio stated that US President Donald Trump sees the Ukraine conflict as "protracted" and "stalemated" and believes it must come to an urgent end. He also described the conflict as "frankly, a proxy war between nuclear powers - the United States, helping Ukraine, and Russia" and insisted that the West should abandon the dead-end strategy of sending Kiev aid "for as long as it takes" without a clear resolution in sight.

Peskov told journalists on Thursday that Moscow fully agrees with the US secretary of state, noting that the Russian side has consistently said that the Ukraine conflict is in fact a standoff between Moscow and the collective West led by Washington.

"This is absolutely in line with the position that [Russian President Vladimir Putin] and [Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov] have repeatedly expressed," Peskov said on Thursday.

Moscow has on multiple occasions characterized the hostilities in Ukraine as a Western proxy war against Russia, in which Ukrainians are being used as 'cannon fodder'. Russian officials have argued that Washington intentionally escalated tensions by disregarding Moscow's security concerns over NATO's expansion in Eastern Europe and its growing military cooperation with Ukraine.

Following his inauguration in January, Trump has seemingly committed to a complete reversal of the US policy on the Ukraine conflict pursued by his predecessor, Joe Biden.

Whereas the former Democratic president vowed to support Ukraine for "as long as it takes" against Russia, Trump has instead been pressuring Kiev to engage in peace talks as soon as possible. However, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has pushed back against the new US administration's demands.

Last week, Zelensky engaged in an angry public clash with Trump and his vice president, J.D. Vance, while visiting the White House. The Ukrainian was accused by the US leader of being ungrateful for American support and "gambling with World War III" by refusing to work towards a negotiated settlement with Moscow. After the heated exchange, Zelensky was asked to leave the Oval Office and return only when he is ready for serious negotiations.

Since then, Trump has reportedly ordered to freeze all military aid shipments to Ukraine and has cut off Kiev from US intelligence sharing.

Moscow has expressed reserved optimism that such steps could encourage Ukraine to move towards resolving the conflict through peaceful means.

(RT.com)