Secretary Rubio: US wants to bring Ukraine and Russia to the negotiating table, but Zelenskyy prevents it

The United States is seeking to engage Ukraine and Russia in the negotiation process, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy allegedly does not give diplomacy a chance.

This was stated by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, ABC News reports.

«Can we get them to the negotiating table? That is our goal. Don't do anything to derail that. And this is what Zelenskyy unfortunately did — he found every opportunity to try to explain every issue in Ukrainian. Then he confronts the vice president,» Marco Rubio said.

According to him, when US Vice President J.D. Vance stressed the importance of diplomacy, Volodymyr Zelenskyy intervened, thus allegedly challenging his statements.

«Well, what diplomacy? We all understand that Putin will not be an easy negotiator. No one here is arguing that Vladimir Putin should receive the Nobel Peace Prize this year or that he should be the Humanitarian Association's Person of the Year. We are arguing that he has a very large country,» Marco Rubio said.

He also stressed that Russia is on full military alert and is rapidly deploying weapons. According to him, it is now necessary to find out whether it is possible to force Moscow to end the war.

«And the only way to do that is to engage the Russians in negotiations, which the Europeans failed to do, the Biden administration failed to do, and they didn't even try,» he added.

The dispute in the Oval Office

As a reminder, the meeting between President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday, 28 February, was ended early. The conversation between Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance in the White House turned into a heated one.

According to CNN sources, after the public part of the conversation between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy ended, the American president and his advisers went into a separate room. It was then that Donald Trump finally decided that Volodymyr Zelenskyy «was not in the right place to negotiate», and instructed Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz to convey the message that the Ukrainian president should leave.

In turn, after the failure to sign the US subsoil deal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the United States, President Trump and Congress.

In an interview with Fox News, Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said that such disputes are not good for both sides, but the President of Ukraine cannot «change our Ukrainian attitude towards the Russians» and does not want them to continue killing Ukrainians.

A number of European leaders, as well as American politicians, have expressed support for Ukraine. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk addressed Ukrainians and Zelensky on the social media platform X with the following words: «Dear Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian friends, you are not alone».

French President Emmanuel Macron also said that Russia is the aggressor and Ukraine is a state that has been aggressed. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also expressed support for Kyiv, writing: «Ukraine, Spain is with you». President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen addressed Volodymyr with the following words: «Be strong, be brave, be fearless».

Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said after the argument in the White House that it was time for Europe to unite around Ukraine and strengthen its defence without illusions about «Big Brother».

In turn, the leader of the «Servant of the People» faction, David Arakhamiia , supported President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the White House dispute and stressed that the head of state wanted to put an end to the war.

After a spat with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US President Donald Trump ordered the National Security Staff to check whether Washington could completely or temporarily stop supplying weapons to Ukraine.