Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, and Vice President JD Vance, right, greet each other as Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on ahead of Pope Leo XIV's formal inaugural Mass in St. Peter's Square in Rome on Sunday. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Rubio had a phone call with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, on Saturday after Putin was a no-show to a face-to-face meeting the Russian leader called with Zelenskyy in Turkey last week. Despite Putin's absence, the Ukrainian and Russian delegations did agree to a prisoner exchange of 1,000 people from each side, though a broader ceasefire or peace deal failed to materialize.
CBS host Margaret Brennan asked Rubio if he spoke with Lavrov about lining up a face-to-face meeting between Trump and Putin.
"Well, we talked about a variety of things," said Rubio. "I wanted to get his readout on his view of how the talks went yesterday. They were not a complete waste of time. For example, there were 1,000 prisoners that are going to be exchanged, and that, from a humanitarian standpoint, is very positive. He explained to me that they are going to be preparing a document outlining their requirements for a ceasefire that would then lead to broader negotiations."
Rubio said the Ukrainians will be working on their own proposal coming soon, and he hoped proposals from both sides would be "serious and viable."
"So we'll have to wait and see. But he wanted me to know, and he communicated in our call, that their side will be working on a series of ideas and requirements that they would have in order to move forward with a ceasefire and further negotiations," he said.
Rubio said the U.S. is "testing" whether the Russian are just "tapping" them along, as Trump has suggested could be the case.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, flanked by Tajani's wife, Brunella Orecchio, left, and Rubio's wife, Jeanette Dousdebes, right, meet at Villa Madama in Rome on Saturday. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
"The mechanics of setting that kind of meeting up would require a little bit of work, so I can't say that's being planned as we speak in terms of picking a site and a date," Rubio said. "But the president wants to do it. He wants to do it as soon as feasible. I think the Russian side has also expressed a willingness to do it. And so, now it's just a question of bringing them, bringing everyone together, and figuring out where and when and that meeting will happen and what it will be about."
Rubio joined Vice President JD Vance in meeting with Zelenskyy at the U.S. ambassador’s residence in Rome on Sunday.
Vance and Rubio later met with Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for discussions on trade, the war in Ukraine and NATO spending, according to a spokesperson for the vice president.
"The individual countries within Europe are important allies of the United States. But, of course, we have some disagreements, as friends sometimes do, on issues like trade, and we also have many agreements and many things we can work on together, and I’m looking forward to the conversation," Vance told reporters at the top of the meeting.
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After the meeting, the vice president's office released a statement saying that "the leaders discussed their shared goal of ending the bloodshed in Ukraine and provided updates on the current state of negotiations for a ceasefire and lasting peace."
Fox News’ Meghan Tomes and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Danielle Wallace is a breaking news and politics reporter at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to danielle.wallace@fox.com and on X: @danimwallace.
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