Marco Rubio, secretary of state, says Russia-Ukraine peace deal ‘needs to happen soon’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that Russia and Ukraine are edging “closer” to a peace deal but “it’s still not there.”

Speaking on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Mr. Rubio said President Trump has employed an all-hands-on-deck strategy to try to fulfill his campaign promise to end the war that started in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine.

“He’s trying to bring this war to an end, and we’ve made real progress. But those last couple steps of this journey were always going to be the hardest ones, and it needs to happen soon,” Mr. Rubio said. “We cannot continue, as I said, to dedicate time and resources to this effort if it’s not going to come to fruition.”

“So, the last week has really been about figuring out how close are these sides really and are they close enough that this merits a continued investment of our time as a mediator in this regard,” the top U.S. diplomat said.

Mr. Rubio said the talks this week will be “very critical.”

“This week is going to be a really important week in which we have to make a determination about whether this is an endeavor that we want to continue to be involved in, or if it’s time to sort of focus on some other issues that are equally, if not more, important in some case,” he said.

Mr. Trump has sent mixed messages regarding the current state of negotiations.

On Saturday, Mr. Trump suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin could be stringing him along after another round of missile strikes in Kyiv.

“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” he posted on Truth Social. “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through “Banking” or “Secondary Sanctions?” Too many people are dying!!!”

The post came a day after Mr. Trump said that Russia and Ukraine “are very close to a deal” and that “most of the major points are agreed to.”