Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with reporters on Friday before departing France.
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00:00I think it's important to remind everybody that the Ukraine war is a terrible thing, but it's not our war.
00:06We didn't start it. The United States has been helping Ukraine over the last three years, and we want it to end.
00:12But it's not our war. I want everyone to understand that.
00:15And the reason why I make that point is the president has spent 87 days at the highest level of his government
00:20repeatedly taking efforts to bring this war to an end.
00:23We are now reaching a point where we need to decide and determine whether this is even possible or not,
00:29which is why we're engaging both sides.
00:32As you know, Ambassador Whitcoff has had not one, not two, but three meetings with Vladimir Putin
00:36to determine the Russian perspective on this and understand what it would take for them to end it.
00:42We, General Kellogg, myself and others, have had repeated engagements with the Ukrainians.
00:47So we came here yesterday to sort of begin to talk about more specific outlines of what it might take to end the war,
00:54to try to figure out very soon, and I'm talking about a matter of days, not a matter of weeks,
00:59whether or not this is the war that can be ended.
01:01If it can, we're prepared to do whatever we can to facilitate that and make sure that it happens,
01:07that it ends in a durable and just way.
01:10If it's not possible, if we're so far apart that this is not going to happen,
01:14then I think the president's probably at a point where he's going to say, well, we're done.
01:17You know, we'll do what we can on the margins.
01:20We'll be ready to help whenever you're ready to have peace.
01:23But we're not going to continue with this endeavor for weeks and months on end.
01:28So we need to determine very quickly now, and I'm talking about a matter of days,
01:31whether or not this is doable over the next few weeks.
01:35If it is, we're in.
01:37If it's hot, then we have other priorities to focus on as well.
01:41Mr. Secretary, Michael Gordon, Wall Street Journal.
01:45The State Department said yesterday that a framework had been presented to all sides,
01:51to the Ukrainians, to the European officials, and to the Russians.
01:55What does the framework say?
01:56What issues does it resolve?
01:58Well, I'm not going to tell you what the framework says,
01:59because when you start negotiating these things through the media and so forth, they fall apart.
02:03And it's a broad framework.
02:05It's a framework that gets us into a position to see, look, they're going to be different to us.
02:09No one's saying this can be done in 12 hours.
02:12But we want to see how far apart it is and whether those differences can even be narrowed,
02:17if it's even possible to get movement within the period of time we have in mind.
02:21So we've talked about outlines of both sides.
02:23I thought we had positive meetings yesterday.
02:25Obviously, the Ukrainians have to go back home.
02:27They have to run it by their president.
02:28They have to take into account their views on all of this.
02:32And we hope to hear back from them very soon.
02:33But we need to figure out here now, within a matter of days, whether this is doable in the short term.
02:40Because if it's not, then I think we're just going to move on from our perspective.
02:44The president feels very strongly about that.
02:46He has dedicated a lot of time and energy to this.
02:49And there are a lot of things going on in the world right now that we need to be focused on.
02:52So this is important.
02:53But there are a lot of other really important things going on that deserve just as much if not more attention.
02:57So we want to do everything we can to be helpful.
03:00We had a good meeting yesterday.
03:01I thought the French, the British, the Germans were very constructive.
03:05We're very helpful.
03:06We thank them for hosting this.
03:08And hopefully we'll have another meeting early next week at some point.
03:11Where we'll have some more definitive answers about how close we are to actually making progress.
03:17But this isn't going to go on forever.
03:18Mr. Secretary, in your conversation yesterday with the Europeans and Ukrainians, I'm sure you spoke about security guarantees for Ukraine in case of a ceasefire.
03:32Could you give us a sense of what that could look like?
03:35And is the U.S. ready to back up any eventual European reassurance force for Ukraine?
03:41Well, that gets into a level of specifics that we're not ready to discuss publicly yet.
03:45Obviously, the term security guarantees came up because they come up in every meeting.
03:49We've heard about it.
03:49And it's not an illegitimate desire.
03:51Every sovereign nation on earth has a right to defend itself.
03:55Ukraine will have a right to defend itself and to enter into whatever agreements it wants to enter into on a bilateral basis with different countries and so forth.
04:05So, I mean, it was discussed.
04:07But I don't, and that'll have to be part of any sort of conversation.
04:10So, Ukraine, in order for there to be peace, we recognize that Ukraine has to feel like it has the ability to defend itself from a future attack from anyone.
04:17Every country in the world has that right.
04:20But I think everyone recognizes that Ukraine's ability to defend itself is going to be a part, it's its right as a country, and will be a part of any agreement.
04:28But we're not working yet on that level of specifics.
04:30I think that's something we can fix and solve in a way that's susceptible to everyone.
04:34I think we have bigger challenges that we need to figure out whether it's even possible within the short term.
04:39I can tell you this.
04:40This war has no military pollution to it.
04:43It really doesn't.
04:44It's not going to be decided with, neither side has some strategic capability to end this war quickly.
04:49And so, what we're talking about here is avoiding thousands and thousands of people from dying over the next year.
04:55We're trying to avoid that.
04:56We saw what happened last weekend with a missile strike in Sumi, where people died on Palm Sunday.
05:00We're just going to see more like that on both sides.
05:02We're going to see more of that.
05:03We're trying to prevent it.
05:04But we're not going to continue to fly all over the world and do meeting after meeting after meeting if no progress is being made.
05:11So, if they're serious about peace, either side or both, we want to help.
05:15If it's not going to happen, then we're just going to move on.
05:17We're going to move on to other topics that are equally, if not more important in some ways, to the United States.
05:22Is this process involving the Europeans going to be the process going forward now for Ukraine talks?
05:29And who from the U.S. team will be attending talks at once?
05:33Well, it depends what the talks will be about next week.
05:38As I said, if it's just going to be a meeting, to have another meeting, we'll figure that out and whether it'll happen.
05:43My hope is that it's a meeting where we're going to get more specificity.
05:45So, we're going to work through that.
05:46We don't have a date set.
05:47It'll be early next week.
05:48Obviously, there's a holiday weekend, so people have to move around and get to their places and get back.
05:56But having another meeting somewhere in Europe is not going to be a problem.
05:59We can make that happen and have the right people there.
06:01I'm willing to come myself if the meeting is going to be productive.
06:06But I can...
06:07What was the first part of your question again?
06:08And is this going to be the process going forward?
06:10Well, look, we've always worked through that.
06:12I mean, we've always talked to our allies consistently.
06:15I myself have had multiple engagements with not the Germans, the French, the Brits,
06:21but also the Italians have been in some of these meetings as well in the past.
06:26So, we've had these conversations we've done before.
06:29So, they offered to host us here today, well, yesterday.
06:33And I think they were very helpful, very constructive.
06:36We'd like them to remain engaged.
06:37I think they can help us.
06:38I think the UK, France, Germany can help us move the ball on this
06:44and then get this closer to a resolution.
06:46I thought they were very helpful and constructive with their ideas.
06:49So, we welcome their input.
06:50We welcome their involvement.
06:52We think it's important.
06:54There are probably elements of this as well.
06:56I always remind everybody that part of the sanctions against Russia,
07:01many of them, are European sanctions that we can't lift.
07:04It's not forever to be part of a deal.
07:06So, they're going to have to be involved no matter what.
07:08It's their continent.
07:09This is happening on the continent of Europe.
07:10So, obviously, European powers will care deeply about what happens.
07:14So, they have a stake in this and we recognize it.
07:17But in the end, I think we all want the same thing.
07:19I think from the U.S. perspective, we've spent three years,
07:22billions of dollars, supporting the Ukrainian side.
07:27But now we've reached the point where we have other things we have to focus on.
07:30We're prepared to be engaged in this as long as it takes, but not indefinitely, not without progress.
07:38If this is not possible, we're going to need to move on.
07:41I think the president feels strongly that we've dedicated a tremendous – we've done more in 80 days than Biden ever did to bring this war to an end.
07:47So, we've dedicated almost the entirety of the president's first 100 days in office at the highest levels possible to trying to achieve a peace here.
07:58And if it's going to happen, we want to help.
08:00But if it's not going to happen, we need to know now because we have other things we have to deal with.
08:04This is Secretary James from Fox News.
08:06In terms of your discussion before Minister Lavrov yesterday, what gave you the indication that he's also willing to move forward to the way they haven't accepted the framework of the ceasefire already in terms of now in the discussion why we feel that they're going to move forward?
08:20Well, look, I spoke to Minister Lavrov yesterday because when we have these kinds of meetings, it's important for you to communicate to the other side.
08:30Otherwise, you know, they don't know what happened. Now they're relying on rumors or whatever's out there.
08:35So, I spoke to him very directly. I said, we had a meeting today with the Ukrainians. We proposed an outline.
08:41We didn't go into specificity about it, but I think he has an understanding of some of the elements of it. I'm sure he does.
08:47I said, we thought it was constructive. We thought it was positive. There was nobody rejected anything.
08:51Nobody got up from the table and walked away. They're going to go back to their capital, spend a few days mulling over it, come back to us early next week.
08:58And also wanted them to know that the French and the British and the Germans were very constructive and helpful.
09:03That was the gist of the conversation. And I think it's important when you're dealing with things like this, especially with the Russians, who we just haven't communicated with for three and a half years.
09:11I think it's important that that communication happen. And likewise, when we've had meetings with Russians in the past or when Ambassador Wyckoff has traveled to meet with Putin,
09:22we've informed the Ukrainian side of what happened so that we don't have a breakdown in trust and things of that nature.
09:27Please, Bob, just on Iran really quick. Was there any discussion yesterday with the U.N. Green Council parts on any of the Iran negotiations?
09:35Are they also sharing the President's vision of Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon?
09:41Well, for the Europeans, they have an important decision to make very soon on snapback.
09:46On the snapback of sanctions, because Iran is clearly out of compliance with the current deal.
09:52As you saw, the IAEA was in Tehran yesterday, issued public statements saying Iran is as close as it's ever been to nuclear weapons.
09:59The President's make fear Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. That is not going to happen.
10:03We're hoping that talks continue and that they're fruitful and that they can lead to something.
10:08We would all prefer a peaceful resolution and a lasting one.
10:12It has to be something that actually not just prevents Iran from having a nuclear weapon now, but in the future as well.
10:21Not just for 10 years with some sort of sunset provision or the like.
10:24So we discussed that, obviously, because the Europeans, the E3, have a decision to make on snapback.
10:31Because I believe we should all anticipate, based on the public comments yesterday, that they're about to get a report from the IAEA that says not just is Iran out of compliance,
10:40but Iran is dangerously close to a weapon, closer than they've ever been.
10:44And then they're going to have to make a decision about whether they want to reimpose these sanctions.
10:48And if Iran is out of compliance, they have to reimpose the sanctions.
10:51So that's going to be a factor in all this, and that's why it was important we talked to them about it before our talks on Saturday.
10:58All right? Thank you, guys.
11:21All right.
11:25All right.