The meeting of Kievs European sponsors lacked substance without the US Secretary of State, officials toldFT

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has abruptly skipped a meeting on Ukraine on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference "at the last minute," according to the Financial Times.

The so-called Berlin Format gathering on Friday was attended by Kiev's European backers - including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, as well as the heads of the European Commission, the European Council, and NATO - who are seeking to insert their vision of a "just peace deal" into the US-led negotiations process.

An unnamed European official described the last-minute cancellation, officially blamed on alleged "scheduling conflicts," as "insane," while another told FT that without Rubio the entire meeting "lacked substance."

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Rubio is set to address the Munich conference on Saturday morning and will be "engaging on Russia-Ukraine in many of his meetings" on the sidelines, according to a US official.

The top US diplomat previously skipped a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in December, with no official reason given for his absence. US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth did not attend a gathering of defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels this week.

Rubio has previously declared that his job is "to advance America's national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism," as he vowed to boycott a meeting of the G20 group in South Africa later this month.

Kiev and its European backers have acted to sabotage Washington-led peace efforts, derailing a potential settlement that was "close" following the meeting last year between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said this week.

The next trilateral Russia-US-Ukraine round of negotiations will take place in Switzerland on February 17 and 18, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced on Friday.

Fearing the isolation strategy will prevent them from influencing US-mediated talks, some EU leaders called forre-engagingRussia diplomatically Meanwhile, the EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said Brussels is drafting its own demands for Moscow and will not accept any deal unless the conditions of Kiev's European sponsors are met.

Russia has repeatedly said it will not be pressured into an agreement that undermines its national security or serves as a pause for Ukraine to rebuild its military and renew hostilities.

(RT.com)