US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that the coming week will be "critically important" for the United States to decide whether to continue its efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Source: Rubio in an interview with NBC News, as reported by European Pravda

Quote:"I think this is going to be a very critical week. This week is going to be a very important week in which we have to make a determination about whether this is an endeavour that we want to continue to be involved in, or if it's time to focus on some other issues that are equally, if not more, important."

Details: The secretary of state said the prospects for reaching some form of agreement to end the Russia-Ukraine war are "closer in general than they've been any time in the last three years, but it's still not there."

He declined to specify how much longer the Trump administration is "willing to give" Ukraine and Russia to reach a peace agreement.

"I always think it's silly to set a specific date… The president has dedicated a tremendous amount of time and energy to this, and we think we have brought the sides closer than they have been in a very long time, but we're not there yet," Rubio said.

He noted that "there are reasons to be optimistic, but there are reasons to be realistic of course as well".

Background: 

• On 26 April, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump briefly met in the Vatican, where dozens of world leaders had gathered to pay their final respects to Pope Francis.
• Zelenskyy stated that the meeting with Trump had the potential to become historic. The White House also described the meeting as very productive.
• On the same day, Trump criticised recent Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities and expressed doubt that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin genuinely wants to end the war, also threatening him with sanctions.

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