Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a masterclass in foreign policy reality during an interview with far-left CNN's Kaitlan Collins, following the tumultuous Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Rubio detailed how the meeting was supposed to be a turning point for Ukraine, an opportunity to move toward negotiations with Russia.

Instead, Zelenskyy took it in an entirely different direction, aggressively challenging Trump's peace-first approach and attempting to box the President into an all-or-nothing commitment to endless funding and military intervention.

Marc Rubio: You guys only saw the end. You saw what happened today. You don't see all the things that led up to this. Let me explain.

The President has been very clear. He campaigned on this. He thinks this war should have never started. He believes, and I agree, that had he been President, it never would have happened. Now, here we are.

He's trying to bring an end to this conflict. We've explained very clearly what our plan is here, which is we want to get the Russians to a negotiating table. We want to explore whether peace is possible. They understand this.

They also understand that this agreement that was supposed to be signed today was supposed to be an agreement that binds America economically to Ukraine, which to me, as I've explained, and I think the President alluded to today, is a security guarantee in its own way because we're involved. It's not us, it's our interests. That was all explained.  That was all understood.

According to Rubio, this meeting could have been avoided had Zelenskyy taken a more cooperative approach rather than insisting on coming to D.C.

Collins predictably refuses to acknowledge the reckless behavior of Zelenskyy, who, instead of seeking a pathway to peace, chose to grandstand and antagonize Trump inside the Oval Office.

Marc Rubio: But they insisted on coming to D.C. This agreement could have been signed five days ago, but they insisted on coming to Washington. And there was a very, and should have been a very clear understanding: don't come here and create such a scenario where you're going to start lecturing us about how diplomacy isn't going to work.