We are close, but we are not close enough, says Rubio to NBC on Sunday and adds that "I believe this will be a very critical week".
Trump – who on Saturday met with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyj in connection with Pope Francis' funeral – has shown increasing impatience with the warring parties. After the meeting with Zelenskyj, Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin may "not want to stop the war".
"We must decide"
We must decide whether this is something we want to continue to engage in, or if it's time to focus on other issues that are equally important, if not more important in some cases, continues Rubio.
The Foreign Minister means, however, that there are still "reasons to be optimistic", but also "realistic" when it comes to the possibilities of reaching an agreement that ends the more than three-year-long war.
At the same time, he emphasizes that the war cannot be solved militarily.
The only solution to this war is a negotiated solution where both sides must give up something they say they want and must give the other side something they wish they didn't have, says Rubio.
Discussions about territories
The US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said on Sunday, without giving any details, to Fox News that there have been "a number of discussions about territories" with Moscow and Kyiv.
Earlier in the week, the US presented a plan for a ceasefire in Ukraine that is in practice very favorable to Russia, where Ukraine is expected to give up most of the area currently under Russian occupation.
In an interview with Time, Trump said that Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, will remain Russian. Zelenskyj has, however, dismissed a legal recognition of Crimea as Russian.
