Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday said the U.S. will find out “pretty soon” if Moscow is serious about wanting peace in Ukraine, 24 hours ahead of President Donald Trump’s highly anticipated call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Rubio said the U.S. is currently testing Russia’s position as it seeks to broker a ceasefire between the two countries.
“So I think your question is, are they tapping us along?” Rubio asked. “Well, that’s what we’re trying to find out. We’ll find out pretty soon.”
Rubio added that the U.S. expects to see some movement forward in the negotiations in order to stay engaged.
“We don’t want to be involved in this process of just endless talks. There has to be some progress,” Rubio said. “If, at the end of this, in the next few days, we get a document produced by both sides, and it shows that both sides are making concessions and being realistic and rational in their approach, then I think we can feel good about continuing to remain engaged.”
Rubio, however, noted that “perhaps the only thing” that could make a difference now is a direct conversation between Trump and Putin.
The two men are set to speak by phone on Monday morning, but Trump has also left the door open to a possible in-person meeting in the future.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday, Trump said Monday’s call will be centered on “STOPPING THE ‘BLOODBATH’ THAT IS KILLING, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN 5000 RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS A WEEK, AND TRADE.”
Trump added that he was optimistic that it would be a “PRODUCTIVE DAY,” projecting confidence that a ceasefire could be agreed on.
French President Emmanuel Macron, one of the four European leaders who spoke to Trump by phone on Sunday, called on Putin to accept the 30-day ceasefire proposal that has already been endorsed by Ukraine, Europe and the U.S.
However, Putin previously rejected the offer, calling for direct talks with Ukraine in Turkey instead. Under pressure from Trump, Zelenskyy agreed to go to Istanbul as long as Putin showed up. Instead, Putin sent a Russian delegation in his place, which met with a Ukrainian group led by the country’s defense minister.
While Zelenskyy ripped his Russian counterpart for rejecting the offer to meet, Trump defended Putin’s absence, saying the Russian leader did not show up because he wasn’t planning to attend.
“He is at the table, and he wanted this meeting, and I always felt there can’t be a meeting without me, because I don’t think a deal is going to get through,” Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier on Friday. “We have to get together, and I think we’ll probably schedule it up, because I’m tired of having other people go and meet and everything else.”