Topline
Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that President Donald Trump’s administration is prepared to abandon efforts to negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine if no significant progress is made on the matter in the next few days.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, center, and Germany’s Political Director of the Ministry of … More
Key Facts
Rubio, who met with European and Ukrainian leaders in Paris on Friday, told reporters, “If it is not possible to end the war in Ukraine, we need to move on.”
The secretary of state then added that Washington was not going to “continue with this endeavor for weeks and months on end” and it needed to quickly determine if a deal would be “doable.”
Rubio said Trump felt very strongly about this and has “dedicated a lot of time and energy to this,” but there were other “really important things” which deserve “just as much, if not more attention.”
Rubio noted that while Washington is keen to see an end to the “terrible” war but added “It’s not our war…we didn’t start it.”
Get Forbes Breaking News Text Alerts: We’re launching text message alerts so you’ll always know the biggest stories shaping the day’s headlines. Text “Alerts” to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here.
How Quickly Does Rubio Expect The Peace Talks To Progress?
The secretary of state outlined a timeline for how quickly Washington expects the peace process to progress for it to stay involved in negotiations. Rubio said Trump “has spent 87 days at the highest level of this government repeatedly making efforts to bring this war to an end,” but Washington has no interest in letting this matter stretch for several weeks and months. “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.” Once the U.S. walks away, Rubio said the Trump administration will “do what we can on the margins. We’ll be ready to help whenever you’re ready to have peace.”
This is a developing story.
