ISTANBUL

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that US President Donald Trump wants the Russia-Ukraine war to end and hopes for progress with both nations in the coming days.

Stressing the significance of the current gathering of NATO foreign ministers in Antalya, Türkiye, with his attendance, Rubio said NATO would continue efforts to ensure there are no “weak links" within the alliance, adding that the Russia-Ukraine conflict remains the top issue.

"The president of the United States has been abundantly clear he wants the war to end,” Rubio told reporters, adding that Trump is ready to support any mechanism that would bring about lasting peace.

Highlighting NATO's purpose of preventing wars and citing Thursday’s Ukraine peace talks in Istanbul, Türkiye, Rubio said that Trump “wants to end wars and that’s the hope with Russia and Ukraine. We’ll see what happens over the next couple of days in that regard, but we want to see progress made.”

Rubio stressed that “there is no military solution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. This war is going to end not through a military solution, but through a diplomatic one.”

“He (Trump) wants economies and countries focused on building things, making things, providing opportunity and prosperity for its people. And he's against all the things that keep that from happening, like wars, like terrorism, and all the instability that comes with that,” said Rubio.

"That's why he's made a bold decision” this week to lift US sanctions on Syria under its new post-Assad administration, said Rubio, “in the hope that the new authorities there will take this opportunity to rebuild that country and take it from being a source of instability to a source of stability.”

Rubio further expressed hope for a negotiated end to the Russia-Ukraine war and steps to prevent future conflicts, saying, “hopefully, progress will be made here soon.”

Defense industrial output

At the alliance meeting, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that with the ongoing issues across the world, “American leadership” is needed.

US leadership under NATO-skeptic Trump has been in doubt, amid other signs the US is stepping back from its traditional lead role in the transatlantic alliance.

Rutte also warned of the “ongoing Russian threat,” Chinese buildup, and “terrorist threat,” urging the NATO allies to “ramp up” their defense industries.

“We also need the defense industrial output (at a level) to make sure that we can fight off any threat to NATO,” Rutte said.

He further reiterated the need to achieve a “lasting and durable” peace in Ukraine.