Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefly discussed the summit preparations during an unrelated event at the State Department on Thursday.
“They’re going very fast because this was put together very quickly, and it’s in Alaska, so we’ve got to get there,” Rubio said. “We’ll see how tomorrow plays out. As the president said, his hope is to interact with Mr. Putin tomorrow and sort of get a sense very quickly and early whether a peace is possible or not.”
“We hope it is,” he added.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio listens as Foreign Minister of Paraguay Ruben Ramirez Lezcano speaks ahead of signing a memorandum of understanding in the Treaty Room of the State Department in Washington, August 14, 2025.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
The secretary also spoke about the conditions that would need to be met to achieve a lasting peace.
“I think we all recognize that there’ll have to be some conversation about security guarantees. There’ll have to be some conversation about, you know, territorial disputes and claims and what they’re fighting over,” Rubio said. “But I think the president’s hope is to achieve some stoppage of fighting so that those conversations can happen.”
As the fighting is ongoing, he said a ceasefire is “critical.”
“We want there to be a peace, we’re going to do everything we can to achieve one, but ultimately, it will be up to Ukraine and Russia to agree to one,” Rubio said.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
