US secretary of state: Trump doesn't understand why Ukraine and Russia cannot end war

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that President Donald Trump does not understand why Ukraine and Russia cannot reach an agreement to end the war.

Rubio was asked by journalists why the US president's frustration appears to be directed equally at both Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin, given that Russia continues to strike civilian infrastructure and civilians across Ukraine.

He replied that Trump's frustration is general in nature, as reflected in his previous statements.

"He just doesn't understand how two countries in such a vicious, horrific, and bloody war cannot reach an understanding on how to end it. He wants to see it ended, and he's done a lot. He's invested a lot of political capital in this," Rubio said.

Rubio added that the easiest course for Trump would have been simply to continue the previous policy that led to a prolonged conflict, but that the president had instead invested significant political capital in efforts to end the war.

"Steve has traveled I don't know how many times on his own dime all over the world to try to bring this to a conclusion. So we have a lot of people that have invested a lot of energy into this, and I think we've made progress on narrowing the issues, but I think some issues still remain that are very, very difficult, unfortunately," Rubio said.

According to media reports, during a phone call on 25 February, Trump told Zelenskyy that he wanted the war to end within a month.

Later that evening, Zelenskyy said that his call with Trump had covered preparations for a bilateral meeting between US and Ukrainian delegations on ending the war, as well as possible trilateral talks involving Russia.

On 24 February, in an address to Congress, Trump said Washington was working very hard to end the Russo-Ukrainian war.