The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said Sunday that he had not had any communication with the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, after the explosive White House meeting on Friday that broke out in a game of shouts, but expected the efforts to end the devastating war in the country could be “restored.”
“I have not had any contact with him since Friday,” Rubio said during an interview with the presenter “This Week” of ABC News, George Stephanopoulos, adding that he had not talked to his Ukrainian counterpart, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, since then.
As he has constantly done in recent days, the secretary defended the actions of President Donald Trump and vice president JD Vance while punishing Zelenskyy, saying that the comments of the Ukrainian leader in the Oval office went to the efforts to negotiate the end of the war in Ukraine, which was caused by a large -scale invasion by Russia more than three years ago.
“We have to bring [Russia] at the table. You will not bring them to the table if you call them names, if you are being antagonistic. That is only the instincts of the president of years and years and years of gathering agreements, “Rubio argued.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio in “this week.”
ABC News
Stephanopoulos asked why the president felt it was appropriate to call Zelenskyy a dictator, as he has done several times in recent weeks.
“Listen, we have spent three years calling the names of Vladimir Putin. That is not the point now. The point we are now is that we are trying to take man to a table,” Rubio replied.
As the president and the vice president did it during his meeting with Zelenskyy, the secretary also dismissed with the Ukrainian president who questioned the diplomatic approach of the administration, although Rubio himself has said that it is still not clear if the Kremlin really wants peace.
“This was understood by the Ukrainians. They were explained repeatedly,” Rubio said. “Everyone knows the story here, the first leg and the return. We understand it. We all understand it. But the question now is, can we take them to a table to negotiate? That is our goal. You do nothing to interrupt that.”
But the secretary claimed that Zelenskyy “could not contain himself in that regard” and derail the peace conversations during the meeting when trying “Ukraine’s back on each issue.”
“I hope all this can restart. I hope you realize that we are really trying to help your country here before you suffer thousands of victims,” said Rubio. “Why is it good for someone? And the argument that we are going to keep it in operation forever? That is absurd.”
Rubio also acknowledged that achieving a diplomatic resolution to the conflict was not a certainty.
“We are trying to finish a war. You can’t finish a war unless both parties come to the table, starting with the Russians,” said Rubio. “I am not promising you to be possible. I do not tell you to be 90% likely. I am saying that it is 0% likely if we do not take them to a negotiating table.”
During the interview, Rubio also retreated the criticisms of Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, who wrote in an X post that “I am sick with the stomach, since the administration seems to be moving away from our allies and hugging Putin, a threat to the values of democracy and the United States worldwide.”
“What have we done to placate the Russians? The only thing we have done is:” Are they willing to talk about peace? “Rubio said.
Stephanopoulos raised the controversial decision of the administration to put on the side of Russia in the United Nations Security Council this week by presenting a resolution in the war that does not explicitly blame the Russian aggression that prompted the war, which was finally adopted by the Council, while refusing to support a resolution of the European Dreza that condemned Moscow.
“Basically he said that this has been a horrible war. It’s time for the end,” said the secretary about the resolution of the United States.
“The sooner everyone grows here and they realize that this is a bad war that is directed in a bad direction, with death and destruction and all kinds of dangers that surround it that could in a broader conflict, the sooner people grow up and realize that, I think that the more progress we can do,” he continued.
As its efforts have increased to end the war in Ukraine, the Trump administration has faced criticism for saying that kyiv will finally have to give territory to Moscow and throw cold water on the ambitions of NATO of Ukraine as long as it cannot say anything about the concessions that Russia will have to do.
Stephanopoulos asked Rubio about what Kremlin would need to give in to end the war.
“Well, why would that say in a news transmission? That’s what negotiations are treated,” Rubio said. “This is not a messaging exercise, okay? This is ‘Can they reach a table?’ And then there is hard work to do. “
