.png?width=1200&height=800&crop=1200:800 "Ukraine-Russia war latest: Starmer urges Europe not to accept a weak deal, says US vital in securing peace – UK Times")
Secretary of State Marco Rubio brushed aside complaints from Donald Trump’s critics about the latter’s handling of US-Ukraine relations on Sunday, his first public interview since the US president clashed with Ukraine’s president in the White House.
He also took issue with Ukraine’s president presenting himself in the Oval Office as an expert in his own country’s affairs.
Rubio appeared Sunday for an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s This Week, where he called on the president’s opponents to “grow up” and recognize that the war in Ukraine risked spilling into a much larger conflict.
It was a somewhat ironic statement, given that the US president and his sidekick, JD Vance, were ruthlessly mocked over Friday and Saturday and depicted as petulant children after their dust-up with Volodymyr Zelensky. The Ukrainian president left Washington and immediately received a show of support across Europe from frustrated EU and Nato members disatisfied with his reception at the White House.
“The sooner everyone grows up around here and figures out that this is a bad war that’s heading in a bad direction, with death and destruction and all kinds of danger surrounding it that could spiral into a broader conflict, the sooner people grow up and realize that, I think the more progress we’re going to be able to make,” Rubio asserted on Sunday.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio defends Trump’s handling of the Ukraine war, insisting negotiations are the only way forward.
“This is a war that would have never happened had Donald Trump been in the White House, and it needs to end.”https://t.co/naPDhqKTJy pic.twitter.com/942puSAL6Y
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) March 2, 2025
The secretary also identified what he thought Zelensky’s biggest sin was in his meeting with Donald Trump and JD Vance: “Ukraine-splaining”.
“What Zelensky did, unfortunately, is he found every opportunity to try to Ukraine-splain on every issue,” Rubio told Stephanopoulos. “Then he confronts the vice president. When the vice president says the goal here is diplomacy, he immediately jumps in and challenges the Vice President.”
Republican allies of the president, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (South Carolina) say they don’t know if Zelensky’s relationship with Trump is salvageable.
But European allies are rallying in support of Ukraine, while increasingly speaking of the necessity to end reliance on US leadership.
“Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader. It’s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge,” Kaja Kallas, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security, wrote on social media on Friday.
Germany’s newly-elected chancellor also vowed last week to “achieve independence from the U.S.” on the issue of defense capability.
Sir Keir Starmer on Sunday hosted European leaders in London to discuss continued support for Ukraine in the absence of continued support from the Trump administration.
“This is a once in a generation moment for the security of Europe, and we all need to step up,” Starmer told those gathered Sunday.
The Trump administration appears to be in damage control mode as a number of Republicans on Capitol Hill have joined their Democratic rivals in sharply denouncing the treatment of Zelensky in the Oval as well as the general trend of the US president’s favorable remarks about Vladimir Putin and Russia. In numerous occasions over the past weeks, months and even years Trump-aligned figures have refused to label Russia the aggressor in its conflict with Ukraine.
It was a trend that became official US policy this past week as the US voted against a UN resolution in support of Ukraine’s territorial integrity — a vote that isolated the Trump administration on the side of Russia, North Korea, and few others. Trump himself also labeled Ukraine’s president a “dictator” in a social media post blaming Zelensky for a law in place which suspends presidential elections during wartime.
Several Republican senators including Lisa Murkowski, John Curtis, Thom Tillis and Kevin Cramer had already publicly rebuked the president over the disparaging of Zelensky before Friday’s meeting.
Rubio responded to Murkowski, who wrote on Twitter that she was “sick to [her] stomach” over the on-camera clash with Ukraine’s leader, and denied that the US was placating Russia.
“We’re a free country. People have a right to these opinions,” said Rubio of his former colleague. “I would just say to you, what have we done to placate the Russians? The only thing we’ve done is say, are you guys willing to talk about peace?”
