WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Tuesday that ending Russia’s war in Ukraine would become a cornerstone of US foreign policy under President Donald Trump, as part of the administration’s broader goal of prioritizing peace and stability on the global stage.

Former US Senator Rubio, a China hawk and staunch supporter of Israel, was the first of Trump’s Cabinet nominees to be sworn into office on Tuesday after the US Senate unanimously confirmed his nomination on Monday night. Additional votes on other Trump nominees were expected this week.

During his confirmation hearing last week, the new top US diplomat said that both Moscow and Kiev would have to make concessions to end the war and suggested that Ukraine would have to abandon its goal of regaining all the territory Russia has taken in the last decade.

Rubio echoed those comments NBCs “Today” show on Tuesday prior to the graduation ceremony.

“It will be the official policy of the United States that the war must end, and we will do everything to bring it about,” he said.

Former President Joe Biden, who sent billions of dollars of US weapons to Ukraine after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, insisted it was up to Ukraine to decide whether and when to open peace talks with Russia .

Trump said while campaigning for president that he would end the war quickly, without saying how he would do it.

Rubio said it would be “complicated … because all parties will have to give something.”

“The only way conflicts like this end is … not in public statements,” Rubio said. “They end up in hard, live diplomacy that the United States is seeking to engage in, hoping to bring an end to this conflict that is sustainable, in a way that ensures the security of Ukraine and our partners in the region, but that stops the killing and the death and destruction that we’ve seen for a while now.”

Rubio, 53 and a Republican, was a longtime member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committee. The son of immigrants from Cuba, he has also pushed for tough measures against the communist-ruled island and its allies, particularly the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Speaking at the White House after he was sworn in, Rubio vowed to carry out Trump’s foreign policy of “advancing the national interests of this country.”

He added that another foreign policy goal under Trump will be “the promotion of peace. Of course, peace through strength, peace and always without giving up our values.”