WASHINGTON

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that the coming week will be "very critical" for Russia-Ukraine negotiations and that the sides are not "close enough" yet to reach a deal.

“It needs to start happening … I think this is going to be a very critical week,” Rubio said in an interview with NBC's Meet the Press.

Rubio said the Trump administration has made "real progress" in efforts to end the more than three-year-long conflict but warned that the "last couple steps" remain the hardest.

“It needs to happen soon. We cannot continue to dedicate time and resources to this effort if it’s not going to come to fruition,” he added.

Rubio said the administration must soon decide whether to remain actively involved in the talks or shift focus to other priorities.

"If it doesn’t come to fruition, then as a nation-state there are options that we have for those who we hold responsible for not wanting the peace. But we prefer not to get to that stage yet because we think it closes the door to diplomacy," he added.

"The last week has really been about figuring out how close are these sides really, and are they close enough that this merits a continued investment of our time as a mediator," he said.

Rubio’s remarks came after President Donald Trump met Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday in Rome, where both attended the funeral of Pope Francis. Both the US and Ukraine described the meeting as “productive.”

Trump later wrote on Truth Social that “maybe [Putin] doesn't want to stop the war, he's just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’”