"For three years, we have referred to Putin by various names. That is not the point now. Right now, we are trying to bring him to the negotiating table. The Russians, as I have mentioned from the very beginning, may also not want an agreement. We don’t know. But we haven’t talked to them for three years; perhaps they do want to," Rubio explained.
The senator also shared that he has spoken with various foreign ministers who suggested giving Ukraine another year of war, after which Putin might be ready for negotiations. According to Rubio, this is not the plan that Trump is aiming for.
"No one here claims that Putin will receive this year's Nobel Peace Prize or that he could become the Person of the Year for a humanitarian association. We assert that he has a very large country, they are fully prepared for war, they are currently producing weapons at a military pace, and we need to find out if there is a way to make them stop the war. And the only way to do that is to get the Russians to enter negotiations," Rubio noted.
As Trump explained during his meeting with Zelensky in the Oval Office, which was broadcast by Fox, he allegedly is "not on Putin's side, nor on any other side," except for the American side, but believes that statements could harm negotiations.
"Do you want me to say terrible things about Putin and then say, 'Hello, Vladimir! How's our agreement coming along?' It doesn’t work that way," Trump stated.