Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested Wednesday that Russia and Ukraine are not ready for a meeting with President Trump as the war between the two countries rages on.
“I think what we have is a better understanding of the conditions under which Russia would be prepared to end the war,” Rubio told Fox Business Network’s Larry Kudlow on his show. “We now have to compare that to what the Ukrainians and our European allies, but the Ukrainians primarily, of course, are willing to accept and what you try to see is, how far can you get these two positions closer? How can you get these two positions closer to each other?”
“If we can get what the Ukrainians will accept and what the Russians will accept close enough, then I think there’s the opportunity for the president to have a meeting that includes both Putin and Zelensky to try to close this thing out,” he added. “So, we’ve got to get closer in that regard.”
Trump has recently weighed a meeting in upcoming weeks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky amid an effort to end the war between the two countries.
The president brought up the idea of meeting with the two leaders in a Wednesday call with European leaders, a source confirmed to The Hill. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also said Russia had shown interest in a meeting with Trump.
“As President Trump said earlier today on TRUTH Social, great progress was made during Special Envoy Witkoff’s meeting with President Putin,” Leavitt said in a statement.
“The Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the President is open to meeting with both President Putin and President Zelensky. President Trump wants this brutal war to end,” she added.
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