SECRETARY RUBIO: Hi, guys. All right. We had a very good day today. I think we made a tremendous amount of progress, even from the last time I spoke to you. And I apologize for keeping you waiting, but there was more work to be done. We began almost three weeks ago with a foundational document that we socialized and ran by both sides, and with input from both sides. And one of the things that happens when you've been involved in this now for 10 months is you get a pretty good sense of what the priorities and the red lines and the important issues are for both sides. And so that allowed us to create a foundational document, which has been an ongoing working document. In fact, over the last 96 hours or more there's been extensive engagement with the Ukrainian side, including our Secretary of the Army and others, being on the ground in Kyiv, meeting with relevant stakeholders across the Ukrainian political spectrum in the legislative branch and the executive branch and the military and others to further sort of narrow these points.
We arrived here today with one goal, and the goal was to take what - it's 28 points or 26 points, depending on which version as it continued to evolve, and try to narrow the ones that were open items. And we have achieved that today in a very substantial way.
Now, obviously, like any final agreement, it'll have to be agreed upon by the presidents, and there are a couple issues that we need to continue to work on. But I think the report today is that I think today was worthwhile, was very, very - it was probably the most productive day we have had on this issue, maybe in the entirety of our engagement, but certainly in a very long time. But work remains, and because this continues to be a work in process, the - I don't want to declare victory or finality here. There's still some work to be done. But we are much further ahead today, at this time, than we were when we began this morning and where we were a week ago for certain.
QUESTION: Has Ukraine - has Ukraine - sorry, (inaudible).
QUESTION: Which couple of issues? Which couple of issues are you - you said about a couple of issues -
SECRETARY RUBIO: Yes.
QUESTION: - remain.
QUESTION: What issues remain? Could you please specify on that?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I'm not going to get into the details on the issues. This is a very delicate moment, and it's important - like I said, there's not agreement on those yet. Some of it is semantics or language; others require higher-level decisions and consultation; others, I think, just need more time to work through.
As an aside I will mention that there were items that we were discussing as part of the original 28 or - it evolved. This is a work in - this is a living, breathing document. Every day with input it changes. There were some that involved equities or the role of the EU or of NATO or so forth, and those we kind of segregated out because we just met with the national security advisors for various European countries, and those are things we'll have to discuss with them because it involves them. So we sort of really focused on the ones that were bilateral in nature for the most part.
So there were a couple - none of it insurmountable. I can tell you that the items that remain open are not insurmountable, we just need more time than what we have today. I honestly believe we'll get there.
QUESTION: (Inaudible.)
QUESTION: Has Ukraine - has Ukraine indicated to you that it is prepared to compromise, for instance, on some of those key issues like territory in exchange for peace with Russia? Have they suggested that they are prepared to (inaudible)?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I'm not going to - look, it's not because I - for purposes of evasion. It's just I'm not going to get into the details of the topics that were discussed because this is an ongoing process. What is important to understand in how these things work is you have to - in order to have a proposal, you have to write it. If it's just verbal, it's in the air, you have to put it down on a piece of paper. And just because it's printed on a piece of paper doesn't indicate finality. So you get input, and based on that input you make adjustments, and then you get more input or you make a counteroffer and you get more adjustments. That's an ongoing process. There's a lot more of that to happen.
So I'm not going to speculate or go into the details of any of the specific items in the latest version of the proposal because, frankly, by tomorrow or the next day, that may have evolved and changed further. And - but I can tell you, I guess, that I feel very optimistic that we can get something done here because we made a tremendous amount of progress today.
QUESTION: What are you going to tell President Trump about the tune of the Ukrainians during these talks?
QUESTION: On the Russia side, are they supposed to join the talks?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Oh, it was very positive. I'm telling you today was the most productive day we've had.
QUESTION: Because he said they were ungrateful earlier.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, today - and we've talked to him since - I think he's quite pleased at the reports we've given him about the amount of progress that's been made.
QUESTION: Secretary, (inaudible).
(Cross-talk.)
QUESTION: Will the Russian party (inaudible)?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, obviously the Russians get a vote here, right? So, I mean, look, we -
QUESTION: A vote?
SECRETARY RUBIO: We began - we began from the early stage of this process with our understanding of the Russian position as had been communicated to us in numerous ways. At the State Department we've received numerous written non-papers and things of this nature, also verbally things they've discussed over time and so forth. So, it was - no matter what we came up with today, obviously we now have to take what we come up with, if we can reach that agreement with the Ukrainian side, to the Russian side. That's another part of this equation. They have to agree to this in order for it to work.
QUESTION: What about the counterproposal from the Europeans?
QUESTION: Will you stick to the Thursday deadline?
QUESTION: What about new deadline - will be the deadline or it's -
SECRETARY RUBIO: The deadline is we want to get this done as soon as possible. Obviously, we'd love it to be Thursday.
QUESTION: Thursday?
SECRETARY RUBIO: We'd love to - ultimately, the important point today is that we have made substantial progress. We've really moved forward. So I feel very optimistic that we're going to get there in a very reasonable period of time, very soon. Whether it's Thursday, whether it's Friday, whether it's Wednesday, whether it's Monday of the following week, we want it to be soon because people are going to be - between today and the time we deal with this, more people are going to die. More destruction is going to happen. Our goal is to end this war as soon as possible, but we need a little more time.
QUESTION: Can you (inaudible)?
(Cross-talk.)
SECRETARY RUBIO: What? I'm sorry.
QUESTION: To discuss the fighter jets in Poland, was that never -
SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah, I'm not going to discuss any of the particulars of it, quite frankly. As I said, this is an ongoing process, and so I think there's work to be done. I know that's deeply unsatisfying to you who have to cover these sorts of things, but I wanted to make you aware that we've made progress. I simply don't want to do anything that sets us back in that regard. And - but I can tell you we've made substantial progress. Today was the best day we have had in our entire 10 months of working on these issues.
(Cross-talk.)
QUESTION: (Inaudible) proposal with Russia?
QUESTION: Did you confirm that you met the European representatives today and what you can say about it?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah, we met with the national security advisors of a variety of countries that were here, and we sort of walked them through the progress we had made today. We didn't go in, again, to tremendous detail. We assured them that items that involve both Europe and NATO directly or - that those items are items that we sort of agreed to put as part of a separate track because it involves input from them. But I think what they heard - and I hope they'll confirm; I believe they will - is an incredible amount of positivity from both the Ukrainian and American side about the progress we've made today.
(Cross-talk.)
QUESTION: What happens tomorrow, Mr. Secretary? What's the plan for tomorrow?
QUESTION: (Inaudible) will only make sense if it includes a provision that says the Americans are willing to provide security guarantees similar to Article 5 of NATO. Are you receptive to this?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah, again, I'm not going to discuss the details of what's being worked on with regards to any particular provisions. I mean, clearly, I think we all recognize that part of getting a final end to this war will require for Ukraine to feel as if it is safe and it is never going to be invaded or attacked again. So, that's clearly something that has to be discussed. I think we've made substantial progress on that and other points. But I'm not going to get into the details about all the -
QUESTION: Can you point to - can you point to (inaudible)?
(Cross-talk.)
QUESTION: Can you point to (inaudible)?
SECRETARY RUBIO: I have time for two more, guys, because I have -
QUESTION: Can you point to any concessions you are asking the Russians to make?
QUESTION: Will there be a call between President Trump and President Zelenskyy in the next hours?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Am I what?
QUESTION: Will there be a call between President Trump and Zelenskyy in the next hours?
SECRETARY RUBIO: I don't know. It's possible. I'm not sure.
QUESTION: Can you - can you point to any concessions?
QUESTION: What happens tomorrow?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Tomorrow?
QUESTION: Yeah, what happens from here?
SECRETARY RUBIO: We keep working. I mean, look, this process -
QUESTION: Here in Geneva?
QUESTION: Here in Geneva?
SECRETARY RUBIO: No, no, no, this process has been ongoing now for the better part of three weeks, and it's really sped up in the last 96 hours. So we have all kinds of people at technical levels that are working full-time on this and engaged in this full-time. In fact, even as we got up and broke up now and walked away from the table, there are a handful of technical items that we expect answers from them on or suggestions from them on in the next 24 hours or so. So, this is an ongoing process. We don't have to be here in this building for that to move. But we thought today being here in person allowed us to make great strides, especially since they sent such a high-level delegation who have the authority to sort of call back to their capital, talk to their president, and make - and agree to certain things.
QUESTION: Can you -
SECRETARY RUBIO: So we've made a lot of progress.
QUESTION: What do you think of the counterproposal from the Europeans?
QUESTION: Can you point to any concessions you're asking the Russians to make?
SECRETARY RUBIO: The what?
QUESTION: The counterproposals of the European, the counterplan of the Europeans.
SECRETARY RUBIO: I'm not - what counterplan?
QUESTION: Can you point to any concessions?
SECRETARY RUBIO: I haven't seen any counterplan.
QUESTION: (Inaudible.)
SECRETARY RUBIO: All right, guys. Thank you. Thank you.
