President Donald Trump of the United States of America will walk away from trying to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal within days unless there are clear signs that a deal can be done, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday.
“We’re not going to continue with this endeavour for weeks and months on end. So we need to determine very quickly now, and I’m talking about a matter of days, whether or not this is doable in the next few weeks,” Rubio said in Paris after meeting European and Ukrainian leaders.
“The president feels very strongly about that. He has dedicated a lot of time and energy to this … this is important, but there are a lot of other really important things going on that deserve just as much, if not more attention.”
There was no immediate comment from Paris, London, Berlin, Kyiv, or Moscow on Rubio’s statement, which coincided with signs of some progress in the U.S. talks with Ukraine.
Trump said on Thursday he expected to sign a deal with Kyiv next week that would give the U.S. access to Ukraine’s minerals. An attempt to sign a mineral pact in February fell apart after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy clashed with Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office.
After the talks in Paris on Thursday – the first substantive, high level, and in-person talks on Trump’s peace push that have included European powers – Rubio said a U.S. peace framework received an “encouraging reception.”
Zelenskiy’s office called the talks constructive and positive.
GROWING FRUSTRATIONS AS PEACE DEALS PROVE ELUSIVE
Rubio’s comments on Friday underline mounting frustrations in the White House over a lack of progress in pushes to settle a growing list of geopolitical challenges.
Trump promised during his election campaign to end the war in Ukraine within his first 24 hours in the White House. He moderated that claim on taking office, suggesting a deal by April or May as obstacles mounted.
He has pressured both sides to come to the negotiating table, threatening tougher sanctions on Russia or an end to billions of dollars in the U.S. military support for Kyiv.
Both Ukraine and Russia showed up for U.S.-brokered talks in Saudi Arabia, which resulted in a partial ceasefire, but nothing more.
Meanwhile, the war has continued, including a recent Russian missile attack that hit Sumy in northeastern Ukraine, killing 35 people – an attack Trump called a “mistake.”
If Washington walks away, efforts to broker a peace would likely be founder because no other nation is able to bring similar pressure on both Moscow and Kyiv.
Other impacts are unclear. The United States could keep its current policy on the conflict unchanged, maintaining sanctions on Russia and keeping U.S. aid flowing to Kyiv. Alternatively, Trump could decide to halt payments to Ukraine.
Rubio said he spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after the Paris talks and had told him they had been constructive and also briefed him on “some of the elements of” the U.S. peace framework.
