'I Hope I'm Wrong...': Marco Rubio Says Likelihood Of Breakthrough In Ukraine, Russia Peace Talks Is Low

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Sec. Marco Rubio spoke with reporters on Thursday in Turkey, where he was asked about peace talks in Turkey between Russia and Ukraine

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00:00Just start asking, do that.

00:01Mr. Secretary, can I just ask you about tomorrow?

00:05It's been a little bit messy.

00:07When do the talks start?

00:08Will you be meeting with the Russian officials tomorrow in Istanbul?

00:11What will be the format of the talks?

00:12Will it be bilateral between Russians and Ukrainians, or will Americans be in the room?

00:17Well, first of all, I'll be meeting tomorrow with the Foreign Minister Fedan

00:21and a Ukrainian delegation, a senior delegation from Ukraine that will be in town.

00:27And so I'll meet with them.

00:30Someone from our team will be involved in the Russia talks.

00:33They sent a more lower-level group over here.

00:37I hope that those talks will be between Ukraine and Russia

00:41with our Turkish counterparts in the room,

00:44along with someone from our team or members of our team at the appropriate level.

00:50But I want to be frank.

00:51I don't think we don't have high expectations of what will happen tomorrow.

00:55And frankly, at this point, I think it's abundantly clear that the only way we're going to have a breakthrough here

01:01is between President Trump and President Putin.

01:05It's going to require that level of engagement to have a breakthrough in this matter.

01:09I don't think anything productive is actually going to happen from this point forward

01:13until they engage in a very frank and direct conversation,

01:17which I know President Trump is willing to do.

01:19Do you think that might have been close to a meeting between the two?

01:22Well, the President is impatient to end this war.

01:25He's impatient, as he's been clearly said, that something needs to happen soon.

01:30Too many people are dying.

01:31There's too much destruction.

01:33And I think he's ready to have that engagement and determine once and for all

01:37if there's a path forward and what that path is.

01:40And it's my assessment that I don't think we're going to have a breakthrough here

01:43until the President and President Putin interact directly on this topic.

01:48But is there any pressure of a deadline on President Putin?

01:51Because I mean, it's two and a half weeks now since you said there wasn't concrete progress

01:55that you would, and you said at the time now, that you would withdraw as media.

02:00Well, we are not going to, we haven't been chasing this around the world anymore.

02:03I mean, that's already happened.

02:04We came because we were told that there, I was going to be here anyways, obviously,

02:08but we came because we were told that there might be a direct engagement

02:11between the Russians and the Ukrainians.

02:13That was originally the plan.

02:14You all heard the same thing.

02:15That was not to be the case, or if it is, it's not at the levels we had hoped it would be at.

02:19I hope I'm wrong.

02:20I hope they have tremendous breakthrough tomorrow.

02:22They talk, but I frankly do not believe that we're going to have a breakthrough here

02:26until President Trump sits face to face with President Putin

02:30and determines what his intentions are moving forward.

02:34What I can say with certainty is that the President's, look,

02:36he's willing to stick with us as long as it takes to achieve peace.

02:39What we cannot do, however, is continue to fly all over the world

02:44and engage in meetings that are not going to be productive.

02:46Again, I was scheduled to be here anyways because of the NATO summit,

02:50and so it just wound up working out that way.

02:53But the only way we're going to have a breakthrough here is with President Trump

02:57sitting face to face with President Putin

03:01and determining once and for all whether there's a path to peace and, if so, what it is.

03:05So it's just like, I don't mean to be glibber, but if that's the case,

03:11if there isn't going to be any breakthrough, is there any progress that you can make tomorrow?

03:17Or otherwise, what's the point from your point?

03:20We would hope so.

03:21Again, the level of team that was sent by the Russian side

03:24is certainly not indicative of one that's going to lead to a major breakthrough.

03:28I hope I'm wrong.

03:29I hope I'm 100 percent wrong.

03:30I hope tomorrow the news says they've agreed to a ceasefire.

03:33They've agreed to enter serious negotiations.

03:35But I'm just giving you my assessment, honestly.

03:38I don't think it's going to lead to that just because of the structure

03:41and how this has all played out.

03:42I think the next thing that has to happen here for there to be a breakthrough,

03:45if there's going to be one, is going to involve President Trump's direct involvement.

03:50And I believe the president shares my assessment.

03:53We'll see you next time.

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