US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington monitors the situation between Pakistan and India “every single day,” noting that ceasefires can collapse very quickly.

 

In an interview with NBC News on Sunday, he said, “…the only way to have a ceasefire is for both sides to agree to stop firing at one another. And the Russians just haven't agreed to that."

 

He added, "Beyond that, I would say that one of the complications about ceasefires is they have to be maintained, which is very difficult. I mean, every single day we keep an eye on what's happening between Pakistan and India, what's happening between Cambodia and Thailand.”

 

The 88-hour-long confrontation between Pakistan and India, that were triggered following the April 22 Pahalgam incident in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), ended when the US President Donald Trump intervened and announced a ceasefire between the two countries on May 10.

 

Commenting on the Russia-Ukraine truce deal, the Secretary of State said, “The only way to have a ceasefire is for both sides to agree to stop firing at one another. And the Russians just haven't agreed to that.”

 

“Ceasefires can fall apart very quickly, especially after a three-and-a-half-year war (in Ukraine) like what we’re facing now ... what we're aiming for is not some permanent ceasefire. What we're aiming for here is a peace deal so there's not a war now and there's not a war in the future,” Rubio added.

 

On being asked why the US is not imposing more sanctions on Russia if the latter is not ready for a ceasefire with Ukraine, Rubio stated that Moscow was already facing the consequences of the sanctions.

 

He said that the direction of the Russia-Ukraine war has not been "altered" despite the sanctions imposed on the Moscow. “The only way to end this war is to get Russians as well as Ukrainians to agree to a peace deal,” he added.

 

“The minute you issue new sanctions, your ability to get them to the table, our ability to get them to the table will severely be diminished,” he emphasised.