Marco Rubio blasts Zelensky: 'Does he really want an end to this war?'

Marco Rubio crossed Volodymyr Zelensky after his viral discussion with Donald Trump and JD Vance. The secretary of state spoke to CNN's Kaitlan Collins and demanded that the Ukrainian president apologize for turning the meeting into "a fiasco." He also questioned whether he really wants to end the war with Russia.

Hours after the bellicose meeting between Trump and Zelensky in the Oval Office, the Ukrainian was interviewed by Fox News' Bret Baier, where he ruled out apologizing for the situation. "I'm not sure we did anything wrong," he noted.

That was the first thing Collins asked Rubio, who visibly disagreed with the Ukrainian president: "Well, apologize for turning this thing into the fiasco for him that it became. There was no need for him to go in there and become antagonistic. Look, this thing went off the rails."

The secretary of state even doubted that Zelensky really wants to end the war. "And so you start to perceive that maybe Zelensky doesn't want peace here. He says he does, but maybe he doesn't. And that active, open undermining of efforts to bring about peace is deeply frustrating for everyone who's been involved in communications with them leading up to today. And I think we should apologize for wasting our time for a meeting that was going to end the way it did," he continued.

Rubio also reiterated again and again the Trump administration's intention to end the war, something he said requires all parties to be involved, including President Vladimir Putin.

"It needs to come to an end. We are trying to bring it to an end. The way you bring it to an end is you get Russia to the table to talk (...) So if there's a chance of peace, even if it's a 1% chance, that needs to be explored. And that's what President Trump is trying to do here," the former Florida senator said.

"You don't get people to a negotiating table when you're calling them names and you're accusing them of things, because at the end of the day, this is not a political campaign, okay?" he added, again taking a shot at Zelensky.

"Well, he's directly, basically undermining everything the President has told him he's trying to do. Look, there's no need for that. You start to suspect, does he really want an end to this war? Does he just think that, you know, we have to do whatever he says and give him anything he wants without any endgame?" Rubio stated. 

"In real diplomacy, the vice president was right"

Rubio also defended JD Vance, who was frustrated by the Ukrainian president's attitude in the Oval Office. The former Ohio senator criticized Zelensky for seeking discussion in front of reporters, for being clear about his Army's situation and for not thanking the Trump Administration for the support provided.

"We were funding a stalemate. We were funding a meat grinder. (...) It's very delicate. It's very costly. It's very bloody. It needs to be brought to an end, but it isn't going to be brought to an end with public pronouncements and maximalist demands in the public. But in real diplomacy, the Vice President was right," the secretary of state commented.

"We had hoped that meeting would start with 'thank you for all you have done for us'; 'we would not be where we are today without you'; 'we wouldn't even have a chance to negotiate without your help,'" he continued.

Finally, Rubio questioned one of Zelensky's last sentences during the discussion with Trump. When the Republican remarked to him that without the United States, the war would have been over in a matter of "days," the Ukrainian leader told him that he had already heard that from Putin.

"That's not a Russian narrative That was the official position Okay of the united states I vividly recall being briefed by leaders in the Biden administration telling us that this war was going to be over in five to six Days, they believed that that was their assessment at the time. And it wasn't the case because of the weapons that Ukraine had in stocks Because of president trump in his first term, so he should have been grateful for that and grateful for what we're doing now," Rubio concluded.