President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that they are still hopeful that they can guide Ukraine and Russia to a peace deal and end the years-long war.

Trump and some of his top administration officials, including Rubio, were in the Oval Office for a meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store to discuss the ongoing conflict in Europe. The White House has struggled to push Ukraine and Russia toward a peace deal, and Russia launched a massive missile and drone attack on Kyiv early Thursday morning, killing at least eight people and wounding around 70 more.

Despite multiple setbacks, Secretary of State Rubio said on Thursday that the administration still believes the war “is endable.”

“This war is endable. Both sides just have to agree to it. We’ve shown them a pathway forward. We’ve discussed those ideas,” Rubio added. “It was a good meeting yesterday. There will be good meetings over the weekend. We’ve shown them the finish line. We need both of them to say yes.”

“What happened last night with those missile strikes should remind everybody of why this war needs to end,” the Secretary of State continued. “It’s horrible that those missiles landed. It’s even worse … that people were alive yesterday that are not alive today because this war continues.”

Trump added that his administration is “using a lot of pressure” on both Ukraine and Russia to get them to agree to end the war.

“If you think we’re just in there because we’re nice people — and we are nice people — but we are using a lot of pressure,” the president said.

.@SecRubio: "This war is endable. Both sides just have to agree to it. We've shown them a pathway forward. We've discussed those ideas… We've shown them the finish line. We need both of them to say yes." pic.twitter.com/iyEYmtVzwI

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 24, 2025

U.S. officials met with representatives from Ukraine and the United Kingdom in London on Wednesday, but those talks only involved lower-ranking officials after Rubio could not make it due to scheduling issues. U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, and Trump said that he will meet with the Russian leader in the near future.

Trump said he was “not happy with the Russian strikes” on Ukraine’s capital city, and urged Putin to “STOP!” Trump added on Thursday, “I didn’t like last night. I wasn’t happy with it. We’re in the midst of talking peace and missiles were fired. And I was not happy with it.”

.@POTUS: "I didn't like last night. I wasn't happy with it. We're in the midst of talking peace and missiles were fired. And I was not happy with it." pic.twitter.com/aSdPhsaOP0

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 24, 2025

The president has blasted both Putin and Zelensky for their failure to agree to end the bloodshed. Earlier this week, Trump blasted Zelensky for making “inflammatory statements” that make it “difficult to settle this War.” Zelensky angered Trump after he said that Ukraine would never recognize Russia’s occupation of Crimea.

“He can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country,” Trump said. “I have nothing to do with Russia, but have much to do with wanting to save, on average, five thousand Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week, who are dying for no reason whatsoever.”

Earlier this week, The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro traveled to war-torn Kyiv for an exclusive 60-minute, face-to-face interview with Zelensky.

Speaking in front of the Saint Sophia Cathedral, Shapiro questioned Zelensky on several topics, including his tense March meeting with President Trump, the substantial amount of American taxpayer money Ukraine is receiving, and prospects for peace with Russia.

Ben Shapiro confronted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over allegations of Christian persecution and forcibly conscripting men off the street in a face-to-face interview in war-torn Kyiv this week.

Shapiro questioned Zelensky on the concerns that he has cracked down on the religious freedom of the Russian Orthodox Church — marking one of the first times the Ukrainian leader has been pressed on such issues by a member of the American media.

“There have been a lot of accusations that there’s been a crackdown on religious freedom in Ukraine, particularly with regard to the Russian Orthodox Church,” Shapiro said. “Maybe you can respond to the accusations that there’s a restriction on religious freedom with regard to Russian Orthodox in Ukraine.”

Zelensky started off by observing that Shapiro witnessed him moments before the interview holding a meeting with the leaders of 15 different religious sects who make up the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations.

“We have a meeting like that a couple of times per year, and I truly visit some of the churches’ sites,” he said. “I believe that what Ukraine has is the largest council of churches in Europe. All of our churches are united — different religions, different believers, and everyone is united.”

Zelensky said that there is no pressure on religious institutions generally, but admitted that the Ukrainian government has cracked down on some churches that he believes are working on behalf of Russia’s intelligence agency.

“The Moscow church is just another agency of the KGB,” Zelensky said. “Everyone knows that Russia’s special services are in control of the church.”

Zelensky said that the churches must be free of influence and that “Moscow cannot be in control.”

“The legislative changes in Ukraine are related to the fact that there could be no connection between Moscow and the church,” Zelensky said, referring to a 2024 law banning religious organizations with ties to the Russian Orthodox Church. Human Rights Watch raised concerns about the law’s broad scope and its potential to target the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the country’s main religious body, founded in 1990 when it split from the Russian Orthodox Church.

Zelensky denied that any churches were closed but pointed out that he and Shapiro were outside the Saint Sophia Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage site, whose foundations are believed to have been laid in 1011.

“Sophia is older than Russia’s capital city and any churches they have,” Zelensky said. “That’s the answer. We shouldn’t be having any disputes. We have scientific evidence. We are just saying that our church should be free from any authorities. It’s free for the people.”

“Nobody closed anything or anyone. But it can’t be the case that Russia’s KGB is in control of the church in Ukraine. Everyone is against these legal ties.”

Shapiro also pressed Zelensky on the reports that Ukrainian men have been kidnapped off the streets and forcibly recruited into the military — a claim that Vice President JD Vance brought up during Zelensky’s contentious Oval Office meeting in March.

“There have been reports online that people are being picked up off the streets and in places in eastern Ukraine and recruited into services,” Shapiro asked. “How do you respond to accusations and videos like that?”

In response, Zelensky called the act “military mobilization” and said that it’s a policy created in accordance with martial law after the 2022 Russian invasion.

“The country is at war,” Zelensky said. “That is why we do have mobilization. We want the war to end…but as long as there is war, as long as we have the law, there is still mobilization.”

Zelensky downplayed the accusations, claiming that there are “different approaches” to military mobilization and that taking men off the streets is not “the main thing that describes Ukraine today.”

“No, Ukraine has 800,000 right now, or 600,000 people who volunteered to go to the Army,” he said. “That was the law on mobilization, but the people were volunteering to go and defend Ukraine.”

Zelensky added that the issue is “not massive” and that he believes law enforcement should be “making sure that everything would be transparent” and that there is “no coercion.”

“We shouldn’t be hiding that like a corruption,” he went on. “If we are fighting with this on an everyday basis — well, of course, you can hide it, like everything, as in [the] case in Russia or in some European countries — but Ukraine clearly shows that it is fighting on a constant basis against aspects like that. But those are kind of singular cases. This is not massive. That’s more important, and that should be reducing on a daily basis. We’re doing that.”