World
Rubio Praised Ukraine's Military While Flying to Meet Xi
Rubio called Ukraine's army the strongest in Europe from Air Force One, en route to Beijing. Ukraine commits 50 percent of its new mineral revenues to a fund Washington co-manages as equal partner, giving the verdict more than one audience.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News on May 14 that Ukraine's armed forces are the strongest and most powerful in Europe. He was aboard Air Force One, mid-flight to Beijing.
Six days earlier, in Rome, he had called U.S. peace mediation in Ukraine stagnated. The talks have gone nowhere for more than two months. Moscow's settlement precondition is that Ukrainian forces withdraw from occupied Donbas; Kyiv has refused.
Rubio put a figure to it: Russia is losing 15,000 to 20,000 soldiers a month, dead not injured, five times Ukraine's rate. In February, he had put the weekly toll at 7,000 to 8,000, roughly 30,000 monthly. NATO's own assessment runs 20,000 to 25,000; his May figure sits at the low end of that range, well below his own February extrapolation.
Beijing
Trump's China state visit ran May 13 to 15. Ukraine, Iran, and Taiwan were on the agenda. The U.S. delegation pressed Xi to cut Russian oil purchases and tighten controls on dual-use goods flowing to Moscow's defense industry.
Under the April 2025 minerals agreement, Ukraine commits 50 percent of revenues from newly licensed mineral and energy projects to a joint reconstruction fund. The U.S. contributes future military aid and DFC capital; both countries hold equal governance rights.
The fund's structure reveals a financial stake beneath the diplomatic praise: Washington's return on every weapons delivery counted as capital depends on the Ukrainian position Rubio was vouching for. The peace brief and the fund stake share the same precondition.
Beijing's official readout listed Ukraine once, alongside the Middle East and the Korean Peninsula, with no reference to Moscow's Donbas withdrawal demand. Watch any joint U.S.-China document this summer for a single phrase: Russia's territorial withdrawal terms. That omission is the actual position.