Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated the Trump administration’s desire to end Russia’s war in Ukraine during an interview Wednesday on “Hannity.”
“We are blessed and fortunate to have a president that is looking to bring an end, if possible, to a conflict that’s cost billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives and destruction that will take a generation for Ukrainians and others to be able to recover from,” Rubio said.
The United States and Ukraine have been working to get their relationship back on track after an unprecedented verbal spat last week at the Oval Office between Presidents Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vice President JD Vance.
A rare earth minerals deal that was expected to create a long-term economic partnership between the two countries and recoup some of the tens of billions of U.S. aid went unsigned after Zelenskyy was asked to leave the White House.
The Trump administration has upped the pressure on Ukraine in the days since then, temporarily pausing all U.S. military aid to the war-torn country and suspending intelligence sharing that could hamper its ability to defend itself and strike Russian forces. It’s unclear how long both pauses could last.
Trump acknowledged a letter he received from Zelenskyy after the dustup during a Tuesday address to a joint session of Congress.
“My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts,” the Ukrainian leader said in the letter, according to Trump. “We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence.”
Zelenskyy also said his country is ready to sign the mineral rights deal at any time.
Rubio told Fox News host Sean Hannity the White House will continue to engage in diplomacy with both Russia and Ukraine to find out their demands and hopefully bridge the gap between the two to end the war.
“It would be in the benefit of everyone, the Russian people, the people of Ukraine, the people of the United States, frankly, our European partners and allies, it would be to their benefit as well to see this come to an end,” the secretary of state said. “But there’s only one person on the planet that can make that happen and his name is Donald J. Trump, the president of the United States.”
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington D.C.-based research group that closely monitors the shifting frontlines in Ukraine, said to date, neither Putin nor Kremlin officials have offered any meaningful concessions to end the full-scale invasion.
“They continuously repeat demands that amount to complete Ukrainian capitulation as well as the rolling back of NATO from Eastern Europe,” the ISW noted.