US Vice President says he is 'optimistic' Russia-Ukraine war can be ended

The United States is optimistic it can put an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine, Vice President JD Vance said on Friday as he met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for the second time in 24 hours.

Vance saw Meloni in Washington on Thursday and the two have since flown to the Italian capital ahead of the Easter holidays.

"I want to update the prime minister on some of the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine ... even in the past 24 hours, we think we have some interesting things to report on," Vance told reporters sitting alongside Meloni.

"Since there are the negotiations I won't prejudge them, but we do feel optimistic that we can hopefully bring this war, this very brutal war, to a close," he added.

Hours earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said U.S. President Donald Trump would walk away from trying to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal within days unless there were clear signs that a deal could be done.