‘A Very Critical Week’: Rubio Says US Set to ‘Make a Determination’ On Whether to Bail from Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that the US would decide this week whether to continue mediating peace talks between Russia and Ukraine or to walk away from the negotiations altogether.

Rubio joined NBC’s Meet the Press following a Saturday meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Rome ahead of the funeral for Pope Francis.

Trump said Friday that Russia and Ukraine were “very close to a deal” to end the three-year war. On Saturday, Trump appeared to break with Russian President Vladimir Putin over recent missile strikes on civilians.

He said on Truth Social that Putin may not want to stop the war and hinted at the use of financial sanctions against Moscow.

During a Sunday interview with Kristen Welker, Rubio said that although progress toward peace had been made, the next few days would be crucial in determining if US involvement should continue.

“I think this is going to be a very critical week,” Rubio said. “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.”

Rubio added the Trump administration had dedicated significant resources to brokering a peace deal, but added that Trump needed to see progress toward peace.

“We cannot continue to dedicate time and resources to this effort if it’s not going to come to fruition,” he said.

Asked whether Russia and Ukraine were closer to a peace deal after the meeting in Rome, Rubio said they were closer than at any time in the past three years – but not yet close enough.

“Peace deals have to be built on verification, have to be built on facts, have to be built on action,” he said.

The Trump administration has made ending the war in Ukraine a major foreign policy priority during Trump’s second term. Trump vowed on the campaign trail to end the war on his first day back in office.

Watch above via NBC News.