在经历了一整天旨在说服持怀疑态度的乌克兰接受美国最新提议以结束俄罗斯残酷战争的紧张谈判后，美国最高外交官在日内瓦发表了异常乐观的讲话。
美国国务卿马尔科·鲁比奥在瑞士城市美国使团举行的深夜新闻发布会上对我说：“我对我们能够在此取得成果感到非常乐观，因为我们已取得巨大进展。”
鲁比奥补充道，就连唐纳德·特朗普总统也不例外——几小时前他还公开指责乌克兰领导层未表现出足够的感激之情，但此刻却对我们提交的进展报告感到'相当满意'。
但国务卿出人意料地独自出现在简报室，而非像当天早些时候那样由乌克兰代表团颇具影响力的团长安德里·叶尔马克陪同。他多次拒绝透露已取得成果的具体细节。
鲁比奥告诉我："我不会透露我们讨论的具体细节，因为这是一个持续进行的过程。"他在其他评论中暗示，"剩下的问题并非无法克服。"
但考虑到乌克兰在美国公开版和平提案中被要求作出的重大妥协——这些条款被普遍认为严重偏向俄罗斯——所谓能轻易克服这些障碍的说法显得空洞无力。
例如，要求乌克兰放弃其东部顿巴斯地区关键领土的提议——这些领土虽被俄罗斯宣称吞并但尚未实际占领——一直是基辅当局不可逾越的红线，尤其是该区域包含被视为乌克兰安全核心的『要塞带』，即那些防御森严的城镇群。
美国向CNN披露的提案建议将该地区设为俄罗斯非军事区，克里姆林宫军队将同意不进入该区域。但要求乌克兰军方交出士兵们浴血奋战誓死保卫的土地，这一提议恐难令人接受。
同样引发争议的还有对乌克兰武装力量的规模限制提议。尽管美国方案中设定的上限为60万人，但欧洲官员表示，他们担心这会使该国在未来容易遭受攻击。
但华盛顿方面似乎更加决意推动达成和平协议，并明确要求乌克兰服从其安排，同时威胁将撤回对基辅的军事支持，任由乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基——用特朗普总统的话说——"拼尽全力孤军奋战"。
白宫于周日晚间在华盛顿发表声明称，经过与美国、乌克兰及欧洲高级官员在日内瓦的多次磋商、修订和澄清后，乌克兰方面认为最新版和平提案草案“符合其国家安全利益”。
声明称，乌克兰代表团确认，其所有核心关切——包括安全保证、长期经济发展、基础设施保护、航行自由以及政治主权——在会议期间均得到了充分讨论。
即便当前美国提出的和平草案确实符合乌克兰利益，但该方案很可能已无法满足俄罗斯的要求——俄方始终拒绝从其极端诉求上让步。
迄今为止，克里姆林宫在这方面承受的美国压力有限。
在日内瓦，美国国务卿鲁比奥多次回避了我提出的问题——美国是否不仅要求乌克兰，同时也要求俄罗斯作出重大让步。
但如果白宫确实有意实现其所谓乌克兰"持久全面和平"的目标，设法说服克里姆林宫作出妥协或许是当前最佳选择。
Americas top diplomat struck a relentlessly upbeat tone in Geneva, after a rollercoaster day of intensive negotiations aimed at convincing a skeptical Ukraine to accept the latest US proposals to end Russias brutal war.
I feel very optimistic that we can get something done here, because we made a tremendous amount of progress, the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, told me at a late-night news conference at the US Mission in the Swiss city.
Even President Donald Trump, who just hours earlier had again publicly scolded the Ukrainian leadership for expressing what he regarded as insufficient gratitude, was now quite pleased at the reports weve given him about the amount of progress thats been made, Rubio added.
But the Secretary of State, who unexpectedly appeared in the briefing room alone, instead of being accompanied, as he had been earlier that day, by the powerful head of the Ukrainian delegation, Andriy Yermak, repeatedly refused to be drawn on the specifics of what had been achieved.
Im not going to get into the details of the topics we discussed, because this is an ongoing process, Rubio told me, while suggesting in other comments that the items that remain are not insurmountable.
But given the extent of the deep compromises Ukraine is being called on to make in the publicly available version of the US peace proposals C which are seen as heavily favoring Russia C the suggestion that they can be easily overcome rings hollow.
The proposal for Ukraine to surrender key territories in the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine, for example, that Russia has annexed but not captured, has been a longstanding red line for Kyiv, not least because the area includes the fortress belt of heavily defended towns and cities seen as essential to Ukrainian security.
The US proposals seen by CNN suggest the area becomes a Russian demilitarized zone, which the Kremlins military forces would agree not to enter. But ordering the Ukrainian military to hand over land that its troops have fought and died to keep would be a hard sell.
Same too, the proposed limitation on Ukraines armed forces. Although set at a maximum of 600,000-strong in the US plan, European officials say they fear it would leave the country vulnerable to future attack.
But Washington, seemingly even more determined to force through a peace deal, has made it clear it expects Ukraine to comply, threatening to withdraw US military support for Kyiv and allow the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky C in the words of President Trump C to fight his little heart out.
In a statement on Sunday night from Washington, the White House said that the Ukrainians believe the latest draft of the peace proposals reflects their national security interests, after various revisions and clarifications made with input from top US, Ukrainian and European officials in Geneva.
The Ukrainian delegation affirmed that all of their principal concerns C security guarantees, long-term economic development, infrastructure protection, freedom of navigation, and political sovereignty C were thoroughly addressed during the meeting, the statement said.
Even if the current draft US peace proposal does indeed now work for Ukraine, it is very possible that it would no longer work for Russia, which has consistently refused to back down from its maximalist demands.
And the Kremlin has so far faced limited US pressure to do so.
In Geneva, Secretary of State Rubio repeatedly side-stepped my attempts to ask him whether the US would also expect Russia, not just Ukraine, to make any significant concessions.
But if the White House is actually serious about achieving what it now calls a durable, comprehensive peace in Ukraine, somehow convincing the Kremlin to compromise may be its best bet.