The clock is ticking for mediators to make progress in to find a deal after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. would decide whether continuing to pursue a diplomatic end to the 3-year-old war will remain a priority for the administration. It has been a struggle for the U.S. to as it tries to find a negotiated settlement to bring an end to the conflict. Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected multiple proposals and made several demands that are nonstarters for Kyiv in a pattern that has led the administration and Ukraine to question his sincerity in a peaceful end to the war.
President Donald Trump came into office hoping to find a swift resolution to the war but has struggled to yield meaningful progress with minor concessions from Russia and any temporary ceasefires quickly being violated as Russia continues to bombard different parts of Ukraine with strikes. Rubio said during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the administration may want to shift its attention to other priorities if a deal can’t be reached soon. “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 – that are equally, if not more, important in some cases,” Rubio said.
“But we want to see it happen. There are reasons to be optimistic, but there are reasons to be realistic, of course, as well. We're close, but we're not close enough.” It was not clear whether the timeline was meant to add urgency to the discussions or whether the administration was seriously considering walking away.
Rubio’s comments come as the White House has suggested a deal is close to being reached after special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin in Moscow on Friday. Trump also met with Russian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the weekend and criticized Putin for continuing to launch strikes on Ukraine while discussions are underway. “This has been Putin's position the last couple years anyways — just maintain the status quo, this terrible war of attrition that is just grinding down both sides.
But Putin can do that because he doesn't face any internal pressure to stop,” said Javed Ali, a former counterterrorism official in federal government and associate professor of practice at the University of Michigan. The White House has pressed both sides to agree to a 30-day ceasefire that Ukraine has said it accepted, while Russia has continued to make far-reaching demands in exchange for minimal concessions in the war. A day after the administration said a deal was “very close,” Russia launched a barrage of missiles into Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv that killed 12 people, prompting criticism of Putin from Trump and questions about the Russian leader’s interest in finding a deal.
“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!! !” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. Zelenskyy and analysts have long questioned Putin’s desire to reach a diplomatic resolution to end the war that does not involve a total capitulation to Russia from Ukraine.
Among Putin’s demands are a guarantee Ukraine can never join NATO, land concessions in territories Russia has occupied during the war and preventing it from receiving military aid from the U.S. and other Western allies once the war comes to an end. The White House has pushed for , territory Russia has occupied since 2014, as Russian territory, and that Ukraine cannot join NATO at least while Trump is in office. Ukraine has been open to staying out of the military alliance but has sought security guarantees in exchange to avoid future aggression from Russia.
Some European leaders have sought to be included in the talks to work out security guarantees for Ukraine, but the White House has insisted Europe should provide the guarantees. “My sense is that (Putin is) just not as restricted or doesn't feel as like he's facing the same kind of threat or potential response from even a collective European response than just from a collective European one and the United States. The United States carries the big stick in this equation,” Ali said.
