Transcription
Today. The future of Ukraine. Peace talks are really running up against the clock.
Just moments ago, we heard from President Trump, who was asked about remarks from Secretary of State Marco Rubio when he said the U.S. would need to decide, quote, whether an end to the war is in the realm of the possible, adding that if not, they would, quote, move on. As I noted, the president was just asked about this. Here's what he had to say.
Yeah. Very shortly. How many days is that? No specific number of days. But, quickly, we want to get it done. If, for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we're just going to say you're foolish, you're fools, you're horrible people, and we're going to just take a pass.
Joining me now, CNN military analyst, retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel Leighton, always good to have you with us. We also heard the president say, when he was asked in some questioning, they're asked about Rubio's comments. He said, in terms of the timeline you heard in there, he said he's looking for enthusiasm from both sides to end this war. It seems there's certainly a fair amount of enthusiasm on Ukraine's side. What do you think he means when he says he's looking for enthusiasm on the part of Russia? Russia does appear to be dragging their feet a bit.
Yeah, they certainly do, Erica. And, you know, it's one of those areas where, you know, to look for enthusiasm, it's kind of an odd term to use in a situation like this. I think what he means is perhaps commitment. And if he wants commitment from the Russians to get to a peace proposal, to get to some kind of a peace plan, and an eventual peace accord with the Ukrainians, then you've got a whole different ballgame that you need to work toward. And I think the administration is making actually a fairly big mistake by not putting military pressure on the Russians. That could come in the form of various things, such as increased weapons supplies to Ukraine, deployments of troops, the potential even of a no-fly zone in Ukraine. That is something that nobody's been talking about since really the beginning of this. And that is something that's the kind of pressure that the Russians understand. All this other stuff, all these long meetings that Mr. Witkoff has had with Putin, all of those kinds of things have really not resulted in any benefit to the Ukrainians, and I don't think they've even been beneficial to the Russians at this point.
It's also striking to me, sort of the two different messages, and almost a role reversal in some ways.
Right. So we're hearing from Secretary Rubio, we've got a matter of days. And then basically we have to move on. And then you hear from Vice President Pence, just earlier today, who said he was optimistic that they could bring this war to a close. Does that read as mixed messaging to you? And if so, is that messaging to one country over another in your view? And it seems very confusing to me, Erica, because, you know, an administration, whoever the party, should be talking with one voice when it comes to these kinds of things. And when you have the Secretary of State saying, okay, we're going to move on, whatever that might mean, and then on the other hand, you have the vice president saying, I'm optimistic about getting this done. That implies that they're not going to be moving on. So obviously, foreign policy is the province of the secretary of state, at least under normal administrations, and so if that is the case that they're going to potentially move on, that could mean a case of perhaps benign neglect, too, when it comes to the Ukrainians. That could be bad for them, but it could also be bad for Russia. And that could mean that now, this gives the Europeans a chance to move in from a diplomatic standpoint and take over where the United States has left off.
So to that point, you read my mind. So thank you on that. In terms of Europe moving in, do you believe European leaders could come in and actually work out some sort of a deal here where the United States cannot?
Well, diplomatically, I think they might be able to. One of the key things, though, to think about is the Russians actually trust Trump more than they do the Europeans. So although most Americans, even, and certainly most Europeans support the idea of Ukraine and support Ukraine's diplomatic position in this, in part because we see Russia as the aggressor, the Russians are far more comfortable with the Trump position. And if they let that slip by, they're going to actually lose the potential advantage that they have with the Russians. We'll lose that advantage on the diplomatic front. And that could be critical for them to basically consolidate the gains that they've had and potentially even gain more. And so for them, this would potentially be a dangerous situation, and it could result in those gains being reversed either militarily eventually or diplomatically.
It is remarkable to be at this point. Right. And to now be looking at is this is this sort of the next 48 hours? This is what we have to work with. We'll be watching. Always appreciate your insight, your expertise, and nice to see you in person. Thank you so much, Erica. Great to be with you.
Our U.S. security correspondent Kylie Atwood joins us from Washington with a closer look. And to add to the confusion, Kylie, you have the vice president saying that he remains optimistic about a resolution to the war. Is there any statement that we've heard from the White House in response?
Not yet. We haven't heard from the White House beyond what we have continually heard, of course, from President Trump, that he wants to bring an end to the Ukraine war quickly. But it's clear that their patience is growing thin from those comments that the Secretary of State made just after meeting, we should note, with Europeans and Ukrainians over what to do next to try and bring a close to the Ukraine war. The Secretary of State shared with the Ukrainians and the Europeans the general framework that the U.S. has laid out for a peace plan. We're also told from the State Department that in a phone call with the Russian Foreign Minister, Lavrov, Rubio also shared that same plan.
So essentially, what is occurring now is the Trump administration is trying to make clear that they're not just giving this plan out and waiting. They really want to see action from both sides towards conversations that could lead to an end of this within days, according to the Secretary of State. The open question, of course, is what the United States is going to do if that doesn't come to fruition, if there isn't an effective engagement from both sides in the coming days. What does U.S. engagement with regard to Ukraine and Russia actually look like? Are they going to normalize relations with Russia, you know, take off some sanctions, potentially build business deals between the two countries? Are they going to potentially give Ukraine more support to continue fending off Russia's invasion? We really don't know. And so what we're watching for here is what happens over the course of the next few days and what the administration does if this doesn't actually come to fruition. Or maybe they misread the Kremlin's calculations here, assuming that offering them more carrots and not more sticks at this point would bring them closer and further along in the negotiation process, which clearly has not played out. Kylie Atwood, thank you.
All right. Let's stay on this with chief national security correspondent Alex Marquardt. He's in Washington for us. So, Alex, where does this leave things? How does Ukraine interpret these comments by Senator Rubio? You could understand if the Ukrainians were nervous about hearing Rubio saying we're going to move on, and that if nothing happens in the next few days, that that will be because it sounds like the U.S. could just abandon their efforts altogether and move on to other priorities, which Rubio said there are.
So I think Kylie hit the nail on the head. Right there is, if these ceasefire talks, these peace talks don't really go anywhere, what's the next American move? And I was speaking with a U.S. official earlier today who said that essentially, the U.S. would move on from the negotiations to the next phase, which would be involving significant policy discussions and decisions. So we have heard the president, for example, talking about putting more sanctions and tariffs on the Russians, shifting, as you said, Brianna, from the carrot to the stick approach, because there have been a number of concessions that the Americans have already given to the Russians, meeting with them repeatedly at a senior level, talking about no NATO membership for Ukraine and no American troops in Ukraine. But is the U.S. ready to punish them more to get to some kind of peace deal or to impose consequences for invading Ukraine? But certainly, if I were President Zelensky and if I were sitting in Kiev, I would be quite nervous because we have heard the Trump administration erring on the side of the Russian talking points. And actually, yesterday, President Zelensky accused Steve Witkoff, who has become the primary interlocutor with the Russians, of adopting the Russian narrative and saying that that's really true. And that's something that we hear behind the scenes as well. And of course, there was that blow-up in the Oval Office between President Pence, JD Vance and President Zelensky. We've heard President Zelensky very afraid that the Americans are more on the Russian position than their own. But really, we have to keep such a close eye on what's going to happen over the next few days because, if the Americans do pull back, we don't know what that next move is going to be. We know that that Keith Kellogg, the special envoy for Ukraine, has talked about a 100-day timeline. Those 100 days are running out by the end of this month. And the Trump administration is not showing much patience and not showing much appetite for continuing with these conversations. And if they cut these conversations short, it is Ukraine who stands to lose more than Russia.
Right. Alex Marquardt, live for us there. Thank you so much.