The fallout over the meltdown of talks between Ukraine's President Zelensky and our leaders, President Trump and Vice President Vance, is still being felt. But there was another American administration member present who had a somewhat lower profile in the blowup that concluded the meeting, that being Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 

Rubio, in an interview on CNN's Kaitlan Collins on Friday, went on to give not only a great summary of everything that happened leading up to the now-famous blowup, but of President Trump's Ukraine/Russia strategy altogether.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio just gave one of the BEST interviews I have watched in defense of President Trump's Ukraine and Russia strategy.

President Trump picked a seasoned media veteran like Rubio for moments like these, here is the full interview! pic.twitter.com/ETaBLVVUHE

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) March 1, 2025

Here are a couple of highlights:

In describing why he thinks Pres. Zelensky was in the wrong on this affair, SecState Rubio stated:

You guys only saw the end. You saw what happened today. You don't see all the things that led up to this. So let me explain. The president's been very clear, he campaigned on this. He thinks this war should have never started. He believes, and I agree, that had he been president, it never would have happened. Now here we are, he's trying to bring an end to this conflict, we've explained very clearly what our plan is here, which is we want to get the Russians to the negotiating table, we want to explore whether peace is possible. 

They understand this. They also understand that this agreement that was supposed to be signed today was supposed to be an agreement that binds America economically to Ukraine, which to me, as I've explained it, I think the president alluded to today, is a security guarantee in its own way, because we're now involved, it's us, it's our interests.

It's correct that an economic agreement like this, one formalized in writing, would not only give the United States a direct involvement in this affair, but it has the potential to recompense, in some part at least, the American taxpayers for the billions we have poured into Ukraine to date.

Sec. Rubio also said, on the topic of Europe's hopes and plans to end this:

President Trump has made deals all his life. He's not going to get suckered into some deal that's not a real deal. We all understand this. We understand it on our end, for certain. and so the goal here is to get to a place... we have to explore whether peace is possible. I've said this repeatedly. I don't know - I think it is based on what they've said so far, but we have to explore that. How else is this war going to end? 

I've asked people, what is the European plan to end this war? I can tell you of one foreign minister told me, I'm not going to say who it was, but I can tell you what one of them told me, and that is that the war goes on for another year, and at that point Russia will feel so weakened, that they'll beg for a peace. That's another year of killing, another year of dying, another year of destruction, and by the way, not a very realistic plan in my point of view. 

"Unrealistic" is a gross understatement, and we Americans must also note that any such European plan would also presumably call for the American taxpayers to continue to run money and weapons into Ukraine.

See Related: NEW: Zelensky Goes on a Tweet Storm, and It's Likely Going to Make Things Much Worse

BREAKING: ‘I Want Peace, Not Endless War’: Trump Slams Door on More Talks With Zelensky

Bringing this conflict to an end has been a priority for President Trump; he spoke of it, as Sec. Rubio points out, during the campaign, and he is trying to make it happen now. It is apparent now that this matter will not be resolved on the battlefield. Neither side has gained any clear advantage; Russia still holds Ukrainian territory, but the lines have more or less stabilized, and what we're seeing now is a high-tech version of the Great War, with some long-range missile attacks thrown in. Russia will, clearly, not take all of Ukraine, nor is it likely that Ukraine will be able to eject Russia from the territory it's holding now.

It takes two sides to end a war, but only one side to perpetuate one. Ending this affair will require both Ukraine and Russia to come to the table. Once the shooting stops, then the parties involved can start talking about how to prevent a recurrence in a year, a decade, or a century hence. But first, the shooting has to stop.

Watch the entire interview with SecState Rubio. It's the best description of the administration's goals for the Ukraine matter I've seen yet. Agree with the administration's plans or not, at least now, under Pres. Trump, there is a plan that isn't just to "continue to pour American taxpayer's money into Ukraine forever."