QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, thank you for joining us this morning. Has there been any contact with President Zelenskyy since Friday?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I haven't had any contact with him since Friday. We have plenty of contacts with him, though. Plenty. I mean, he met - in the last ten days, he's met with the Secretary of Commerce - he spoke to the President on the phone, met with the Secretary of Commerce, met with me, met with the Vice President, met with our special envoy, and then was invited and came over on - invited. He wanted to come over on Friday to sign this commercial deal that didn't happen. So there's been plenty of contact with them. I've talked to the foreign minister several times - not since then. And we'll see moving forward.
I think the last line in the President's Truth Social post is the one to focus in on, and that is we'll be ready to reengage when they're ready to make peace, which is clearly what the President's goal is here. He's trying to get Russia to the table to bring about - to see if there's a way to bring about an end to this conflict. That's his goal. That's his only goal. That's his centralized focus. And hopefully, we'll get to a point where that's possible.
QUESTION: The British prime minister said this morning that the United Kingdom and France are working on a peace plan with Ukraine to present to the U.S. Do you know where things stand with that plan?
SECRETARY RUBIO: No. I mean, I've talked to both of the foreign ministers of France and the UK yesterday, and I explained to them sort of the events leading up to what you saw on Friday.
Look, I think what's really important here is to understand the dynamic. The President is basically saying there's this horrible war, it's been going on for three years, it is a bloody stalemate, a meatgrinder type war, and he wants it to end. How does it end? It's very simple. The only way it ends is if Vladimir Putin comes to a negotiating table. And right now, President Trump is the only person on Earth who has any chance whatsoever of bringing him to a table to see what it is he would be willing to end the war on.
Now, maybe their claims or what they want, their demands, will be unreasonable. We don't know, but we have to bring them to the table. You're not going to bring them to the table if you're calling them names, if you're being antagonistic. That's just the President's instincts from years and years and years of putting together deals as someone who's in business. And that's the only goal here is —
QUESTION: Well, let me just stop you there for one second. Why is it —
SECRETARY RUBIO: — to try to bring about an end to - a freer world - a war with no end in sight.
QUESTION: Why is it okay to call President Zelenskyy —
SECRETARY RUBIO: All right, I'm sorry.
QUESTION: Why is it okay to call President Zelenskyy a dictator but not, as you say, call Vladimir Putin names?
SECRETARY RUBIO: We've spent three years calling Vladimir Putin names. That's not the point now. The point that we're at now is we're trying to get the man to a table. The Russians - and I've said from the very beginning maybe they don't want a deal either. We don't know. But we haven't talked to them in three years, but maybe they do.
The point is do we want to make - I would ask everybody this: If there are no negotiations, what is the alternative? Another four years of war, another three years of war, in which the United States and Europe continues to pour billions of dollars into a war in Ukraine? Is that the alternative?
I've asked every foreign minister I meet with, "Tell me your idea of how this turns out." Most don't have a plan. A few have said, well, let's give them another year of fighting, a year from now, a year later, after another year of death, another year of destruction, then maybe Putin will be ready to negotiate at that point. That doesn't sound like a good plan to me, and it certainly is not a plan the President is on board with.
QUESTION: It's not just about getting people to the table. It's about keeping agreements that are made. And that was one of the points that President Zelenskyy was making in the Oval Office on Friday is that Vladimir Putin has not kept the agreements that were made in the past. Wasn't he right about that?
SECRETARY RUBIO: But what is - moving forward is the question, not the past. No one here is claiming Vladimir Putin is going to get the Nobel Peace Prize this year or that he should be the man of the year of the humanitarian association. What we're arguing here is he has a very large country, they're on full war footing, they're cranking out weapons now at a war-footing pace, and we need to figure out is there a way to get them to stop the war. And the only way you're going to do that is to get Russians engaged in negotiations - something the Europeans haven't been able to do, the Biden administration wasn't able to do or didn't even try.
That's the goal here. It's that simple. Can we try to sit with them and figure out whether there's any - what are the Russian demands? Under what conditions would the Russians be willing to stop this war? And as I said, we don't know what those are because we haven't talked to them in three years. That's the singular goal here is to try to bring about an end to this conflict, and it begins by getting them to the table.
Ultimately, like any truce, like any peace agreement anywhere in the world, those things will have to be enforced. They'll have to be enduring. There will have to be safeguards put in place. Everybody understands that. But it begins with the first step, and that is engaging them to see if it's even possible. Because if it's not possible, then what we're looking at is a protracted stalemate with thousands of people dying, billions of dollars pouring in, and more death and destruction. And that's not something the President wants to be a part of. He's made it very clear.
QUESTION: Aren't those talks feasible only if the United States is willing to also provide security guarantees to Ukraine? That was the point that President Zelenskyy was also making in the Oval Office.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, the security guarantees - which I actually like to call deterrence - is all contingent upon there being a peace. Everybody is saying security guarantees to secure the peace. You first have to have a peace. We don't even know if the peace is possible. And that - this was understood by the Ukrainians. It was explained to them repeatedly, and that is here's our strategy, we're trying to get Putin to a negotiating table. Don't - let's not - everyone knows the history here, the back and forth. We understand that. We all understand that.
But the question now is can we get them to a table to negotiate. That's our goal. Don't do anything to disrupt that. And that's what Zelenskyy did, unfortunately, is he found every opportunity to try to Ukraine-splain on every issue, then he confronts the Vice President. When the Vice President says the goal here is diplomacy, he immediately jumps in and challenges the Vice President - well, what kind of diplomacy? So we all understand, okay, that Putin is not going to be an easy negotiator in this regard. We all get that. But we have to - we have to start the process to see if something is even possible.
And I honestly am puzzled. I just don't understand. The Biden administration berated Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israelis, put all kinds of conditions and pressure on them to try to get a ceasefire. In this particular case, we've been nice by comparison. And all we're trying to do here is figure out whether a peace is possible. All these other things that people keep bringing up, that'll have to be a part of a negotiation. Right now there is no negotiation. Shouldn't we at least try to see if there is a way to end this war in a way that's acceptable to both sides and is enduring and sustainable? How is that a bad thing? I really am puzzled why anyone thinks that trying to be a peacemaker is a bad thing. It's only a bad thing when it's Donald Trump trying to do it, when it's President Trump. It's absurd to me.
QUESTION: Well, even some of your Republican allies are puzzled by the steps that President Trump has taken to placate Vladimir Putin. I want to bring up a post that Lisa Murkowski —
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, which ones? What steps has the President taken to placate —
QUESTION: Let me show —
SECRETARY RUBIO: What steps has he taken?
QUESTION: Let me show you —
SECRETARY RUBIO: Are we arming the Russians?
QUESTION: — what Lisa Murkowski said and your —
SECRETARY RUBIO: Are we providing economic assistance to the Russians? Have we given the Russians $180 billion? What does that mean, "to placate"?
QUESTION: Let me ask you the question. This is Lisa Murkowski and here's what she says: "This week started with administration officials refusing to acknowledge that Russia started the war in Ukraine. It ends with a tense and shocking conversation in the Oval Office and whispers from the White House that they may try to end all U.S. support for Ukraine. I know foreign policy is not for the faint of heart, but right now I am sick to my stomach as the administration appears to be walking away from our allies and embracing Putin - a threat to democracy and U.S. values around the world." Those are not my words. That's Senator Lisa Murkowski. What's your response?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, yeah, we're a free country. People have a right to these opinions. I would just say to you, "What have we done to placate the Russians?" The only thing we've done is say are you guys willing to talk about peace. I say the same point. We're not giving - we haven't given Russia $180 billion in weapons. We haven't given them an Oval Office meeting.
QUESTION: You voted with North Korea and Russia and - you voted with North Korea and Russia and Belarus in the United Nations and against our Western allies.
SECRETARY RUBIO: No, let me tell you. All right, so you know what the - do you know what the United Nations resolution was? I'll tell you if you want to hear what it was. It basically said this has been a horrible war, it's time for it to end, the job of the UN is to bring about peace in the world. I thought that's what the UN was created to do - to stop wars and to prevent them. And that's what the resolution did.
Was it antagonistic towards the Russians? No. Back to the point. But it also didn't praise the Russians. All it said is this is a bad war, it needs to end. And by the way, at the Security Council, which has not been widely reported, the first resolution on Ukraine that has passed the Security Council in three years passed this week because of the leadership of President Trump, and it's a resolution that said bad war, needs to end, let's bring the two sides together. That's what the resolution is.
Again, what is the United Nations for? Isn't it not a forum to promote peace in the world? And shouldn't our president - shouldn't we all be happy that we have a president who's trying to stop wars and prevent them instead of start them? And I just don't get it, I really don't, other than the fact that it's Donald J. Trump. If this was a Democrat that was doing this, everyone would be saying, well, he's on his way to the Nobel Peace Prize. This is absurd. We are trying to end a war. You cannot end a war unless both sides come to the table, starting with the Russians, and that is the point the President has made. And we have to do whatever we can to try to bring them to the table to see if it's even possible.
I'm not promising you it's possible. I'm not telling you it's 90 percent likely. I'm saying it's 0 percent likely if we don't get them to a negotiating table. And the sooner everyone grows up around here and figures out that this is a bad war that's heading in a bad direction with death and destruction and all kinds of danger surrounding it that could spiral into a broader conflict, the sooner people grow up and realize that, I think the more progress we're going to be able to make.
But the President is crystal clear. He campaigned on it and he's going to govern on it, and that is he is going to be a president that tries to achieve peace. And he has been very clear this is a war that would have never happened had Donald Trump been in the White House, and it needs to end, and we're going to do everything we can to end it in an enduring and sustainable and fair way.
QUESTION: You said in your confirmation hearings that Russia will have to make concessions to get a peace deal. What concessions do you expect them to make?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, why would I say that on a news broadcast? That's what negotiations are about. That's the problem here. Again, everybody is - this is not a messaging exercise, okay? This is can they get to a table, and then there's hard work to be done. You're absolutely right; I'm not telling you this is an easy peace deal. The Russians will give you a 30-minute lecture on the history of Ukraine and this, that, and the other. The Ukrainians have their own point of view. There's no doubt about it.
But what peace deal in the history of the world has ever been easy? That's the hard work of diplomacy. That's exactly what the Vice President was alluding to. That's what peace deals involve. You've covered this. You've been around for a long time. These conflicts are not easy to solve. We're getting - but you can't solve them at all if you don't even have a process to try to solve it, if you don't have the parties at the table.
And right now that's been our goal. It's been explained crystal clear to the Ukrainians and the Europeans and everyone else who wants to know for weeks now, for weeks now. And the only thing they were told was do not do things to derail it. And sadly, President Zelenskyy couldn't contain himself in that regard. I hope this could all be reset. I hope he comes to the realization that we're actually trying to help his country here before it suffers thousands of more casualties. Three million people have already left Ukraine. Are they ever going to be able to come back? He's got Ukrainians being held prisoner, including children, on the Russian side. All this is - why is any of this good for anybody? And the argument that we're going to just keep it going forever, that's absurd.
So it's time to bring the Russians to the table if it's even possible and see if there is a way forward that ends this conflict and makes sure it never happens again. That's our goal. That remains our goal. That's the President's goal.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, thanks for your time this morning.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Thank you.
