Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to temper expectations for a major peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia on Sunday.
Rubio made the statement during a Sunday morning appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” telling host Kirsten Welker that a deal is “still not there.”
“We’ve made real progress, but the last couple steps of this journey were always going to be the hardest,” Rubio said. “It needs to happen soon. We cannot continue to, as I said, to dedicate time and resources to this issue if it’s not gonna come to fruition.”
“The last week has been about figuring out how close are these sides really, and are they close enough that this merits a continued investment of our time as a mediator in this regard,” he added.
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Rubio argued it was “silly” to put a specific date or timeline on when the U.S. might pull out from mediation, but he said this will be “a very critical week.”
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“This week is going to be a very important week at which we need to make a determination about whether this is an endeavor that we want to continue to be involved in, or if it’s time to sort of focus on some other issues that are equally if not more important in some cases,” he said.
President Donald Trump met face-to-face with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican this weekend.
Neither Ukrainian nor White House officials gave many details on the meeting; however, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said the leaders had “a very productive discussion.”
Zelenskyy later tweeted that the meeting was “very symbolic” and could potentially be “historic.”
This meeting comes as peace talks between Russia and Ukraine appear to be at a standstill, with Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin making competing demands.
“A good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine. They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off.’ Most of the major points are agreed to. Stop the bloodshed, NOW. We will be wherever is necessary to help facilitate the END to this cruel and senseless war,” Trump wrote on Truth Social after arriving in Rome on Saturday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov did not reveal any specifics about potential negotiations during a pre-recorded interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation” that aired Sunday.
“We are really polite people, and unlike some others, we never discuss in public what is being discussed in negotiations,” Lavrov told host Margaret Brennan. “Otherwise, negotiations are not serious. To ask for somebody’s opinion regarding the substance, go to Zelenskyy. He is happy to talk to anybody through media, even to President Trump.”
“Russia is always available for a dialogue,” Lavrov added.
When asked whether there would be a meeting between Trump and Putin, Lavrov said the two presidents are “masters of their own destiny and of their own schedule.”
Fox News’ Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.
