U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the media throughout a refueling prevent at Shannon Airport in Shannon, Ireland, March 12, 2025, as he travels from talks with Ukraine in Saudi Arabia to attending a G7 Foreign Ministers assembly in Canada.
Saul Loeb | Via Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned President Donald Trump hasn’t but imposed consequences on Russia over its ongoing conflict with Ukraine since the White House remains to be hoping international relations can finish the conflict.
“The minute you start doing that kind of stuff, you’re walking away from it,” Rubio mentioned Sunday on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press.’
Rubio mentioned that the approaching week shall be “very critical” for the White House because it makes a “determination about whether this is an endeavor that we want to continue to be involved in.”
“There are reasons to be optimistic, but there are reasons to be realistic,” Rubio mentioned, including: “We’re close, but we’re not close enough.”
“Throughout this process, it’s about determining, do both sides really want peace and how close are they or how far apart they are after 90 days of effort here … that’s what we’re trying to determine this week,” Rubio mentioned of negotiations.
Rubio’s feedback come as Trump is ramping up power on Russia and Ukraine to succeed in a peace deal. Trump met Saturday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, simply earlier than floating the potential for more difficult sanctions in opposition to Moscow.
Rubio mentioned that Trump has “made real progress” in nearing an finish to the conflict, however “those last couple steps of this journey were always going to be the hardest ones, and it needs to happen soon.”
“We cannot continue, as I said, to dedicate time and resources to this effort if it’s not going to come to fruition,” he added.
Trump on Saturday questioned whether or not Russian President Vladimir Putin needs to “stop the war” in opposition to Ukraine.
“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through “Banking” or “Secondary Sanctions?” Too many people are dying!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
His publish got here simply after he had a non-public assembly with Zelenskyy in Rome, which the White House described as a “productive discussion.”