“We have to make a determination about whether this is an endeavor that we want to continue to be involved in,” says @Secrubio on negotiations around Ukraine.
“There are reasons to be optimistic, but there are reasons to be realistic… We’re close, but we’re not close enough.” pic.twitter.com/BtVrodmRUy
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 27, 2025
”This week is going to be a really important week in which we have to make a determination about whether this is an endeavour that we don’t want to continue to be involved in, or if it’s time to sort of focus on some other issues,” he said.Rubio spoke a day after President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in Rome during the funeral of Pope Francis to revive faltering efforts to end Russia’s war with Ukraine.
President Trump sat down to meet privately with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City this morning. pic.twitter.com/QChPiZRKzM
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 26, 2025
Zelenskyy said the meeting could prove historic if it delivers the kind of peace he is hoping for, and a White House spokesperson called it ”very productive.”
Good meeting. We discussed a lot one on one. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has potential to… pic.twitter.com/q4ZhVXCjw0
– Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Volodymyr Zelenskyy (@zelenskyyua) April 26, 2025
Rubio said Washington has held off imposing sanctions on Russia to allow diplomacy to work but warned that Trump has options for dealing with any party that resists a peace deal.
”If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t come to fruition, then as a nation state, there are options that we have for those who we hold responsible for not wanting the peace,” the secretary of state said. ”But we prefer not to get to that stage yet, because we think it closes the door to diplomacy.”
US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Sunday that he worries that Trump will ”cave in to Putin.”
”To just abandon Ukraine, after all the sacrifice that they made, after so much loss of life, and with the rallying of the whole West against Putin, it would just be a moral tragedy,” Schumer said on CNN’s State of the Union.
Schumer said siding with Russia in the conflict would tear apart alliances with Europe and embolden dictators around the world.
Also read: Trump has lowest 100-day approval rating in 80 years, finds new poll
