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Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that the "only way" the Ukraine War will end is by President Donald Trump facing in-person discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I think that’s the only chance we have at peace at this point, given everything we’ve seen over the last few weeks,” Rubio told FOX News' Sean Hannity on Thursday (May 15), echoing Trump's public claim that "nothing's going to happen" until he personally met with Putin.
“There’s been talks, there’s been negotiations, there’s been trips and meetings — but in the end, I think we’ve reached the conclusion, rightfully so, as the president has, that the only way this is going to happen, if it has a chance to happen, the only way it happens is, if the president directly engages with Vladimir Putin,” he added.
Rubio, who is leading the U.S. delegation during peace talks in Turkey, which was proposed but not attended by Putin, claimed that Trump was a peace-centric president.
“The president, frankly, is a lover of peace,” Rubio said.
“This is a person that wants to stop wars and prevent wars and end wars. That’s what the president endeavors to do,” he added.
Trump previously said he wasn't surprised by Putin skipping proposed peace talks with Ukraine claiming "nothing's going to happen" until they both speak to each other in-person.
“Look, nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together. Okay?” Trump said on Air Force One when asked about the scheduled meeting via the New York Post.
“And obviously, he wasn’t going to go. He was going to go — but he thought I was going to go. He wasn’t going if I wasn’t there,” he continued. “And I don’t believe anything’s going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together. But we’re going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying.”
Trump was then asked about Putin's decision to send a second-tier of team aides for the discussions.
“I’m not disappointed in anything," Trump responded.
“Why would I be disappointed? We just took in $4 trillion and he says ‘are you disappointed about a delegation?'” he added, referencing business deals announced during his tour of the Middle East.
Putin previously proposed direct "peace" talks with Ukraine on Sunday (May 11), three years after sending thousands of troops to invade the neighboring country and start an ongoing war resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths.
“We are proposing that Kyiv resume direct negotiations without any preconditions,” Putin said from the Kremlin via Reuters. “We offer the Kyiv authorities to resume negotiations already on Thursday, in Istanbul.”
Trump shared a post on his Truth Social account favoring the potential discussions.
"A potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine! Think of the hundreds of thousands of lives that will be saved as this never ending “bloodbath” hopefully comes to an end. It will be a whole new, and much better, WORLD. I will continue to work with both sides to make sure that it happens. The USA wants to focus, instead, on Rebuilding and Trade. A BIG week upcoming!" Trump wrote at the time.