Trump likely to meet Zelensky next week on peace efforts: Rubio

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump in a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 18, 2025. [AFP]

President Donald Trump will likely meet Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky next week and still hopes to broker a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday.

Trump has repeatedly threatened sanctions against Russia if President Vladimir Putin does not compromise. But he has not followed through even as Russia ramps up attacks, frustrating Ukraine.

Trump has had "multiple calls with Putin, multiple meetings with Zelensky, including probably next week again in New York", where leaders will gather for the UN General Assembly, Rubio told reporters in Israel.

"He's going to keep trying. If peace is possible, he wants to achieve it," Rubio said.

"At some point the president may conclude it's not possible. He's not there yet, but he could get to that point."

Rubio pointed to a figure previously cited by Trump, saying that Russia lost 20,000 soldiers in fighting in July alone.

Trump a month ago welcomed Putin to Alaska -- the first time a Western nation has allowed the Russian leader to visit since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 -- and days later met with Zelensky alongside European leaders at the White House.

Rubio said that Trump was unique in being able to speak to Putin as well as Zelensky and the Europeans.

"If somehow he were to disengage from this, or sanction Russia and say, 'I'm done', then there's no one left in the world that could possibly mediate the end," Rubio said.

Trump came into office vowing to end the war within a day, blaming his predecessor Joe Biden for Russia's invasion and criticising the billions of dollars provided by the United States to Ukraine.

At a February 28 meeting at the White House that stunned US allies, Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly berated Zelensky, accusing him of ingratitude, and then briefly cut off US military and intelligence support for Ukraine.

Zelensky has since met Trump twice and each time gone out of his way to praise the US president and voice appreciation for American support.