Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with reporters on Friday about the prospects of ending the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I think it's important to remind everybody that the Ukraine war is a terrible thing, but it's not our war.
00:05We didn't start it. The United States has been helping Ukraine for over the last three years, and we want it to end.
00:11But it's not our war. I want everyone to understand that.
00:14And the reason why I make that point is the president has spent 87 days at the highest level of his government
00:19repeatedly taking efforts to bring this war to an end.
00:22We are now reaching a point where we need to decide and determine whether this is even possible or not,
00:28which is why we're engaging both sides.
00:31As you know, Ambassador Whitcoff has had not one, not two, but three meetings with Vladimir Putin
00:35to determine the Russian perspective on this and understand what it would take for them to end it.
00:41We, General Kellogg, myself and others, have had repeated engagements with the Ukrainians.
00:46So we came here yesterday to sort of begin to talk about more specific outlines of what it might take to end the war,
00:53to try to figure out very soon, and I'm talking about a matter of days, not a matter of weeks,
00:58whether or not this is the war that can be ended.
01:00If it can, we're prepared to do whatever we can to facilitate that and make sure that it happens,
01:06that it ends in a durable and just way.
01:09If it's not possible, if we're so far apart that this is not going to happen,
01:13then I think the president's probably at a point where he's going to say, well, we're done.
01:16You know, we'll do what we can on the margins.
01:19We'll be ready to help whenever you're ready to have peace.
01:22But we're not going to continue with this endeavor for weeks and months on end.
01:27So we need to determine very quickly now, and I'm talking about a matter of days,
01:30whether or not this is doable over the next few weeks.
01:34If it is, we're in.
01:36If it's hot, then we have other priorities to focus on as well.
01:40If it's hot, then we'll be right back.