PARIS, Apr 18 (Alliance News): U.S. President Donald Trump may abandon his administration’s attempt to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine within days unless there are clear signs of progress, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday.
Speaking in Paris after holding talks with European and Ukrainian leaders, Rubio said the White House would not allow the negotiations to drag on indefinitely.
“We need to determine very quickly now—I’m talking about a matter of days—whether or not this is doable in the next few weeks,” he said.
Rubio added that while President Trump remains committed to the peace process, “there are a lot of other really important things going on that deserve just as much, if not more, attention.”
Despite Rubio’s caution, there have been recent signs of momentum. Trump announced on Thursday that the U.S. is close to signing a minerals agreement with Kyiv, potentially giving the U.S. access to Ukraine’s critical resources.
A similar deal collapsed in February following tensions between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the U.S. leadership.
Thursday’s talks in Paris marked the first high-level, in-person discussions involving European stakeholders on Trump’s peace initiative.
Rubio described the response to the U.S. peace framework as “encouraging,” while Zelenskyy’s office labeled the meetings “constructive and positive.”
However, Rubio’s comments reflect increasing White House frustration over the lack of resolution to multiple foreign policy challenges.
Trump, who once vowed to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office, later revised his timeline to achieving a deal by April or May.
Rubio said he briefed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the outcome of the Paris talks and shared “some elements” of the U.S. framework.
The issue of U.S. security guarantees was discussed but remains unresolved. “We have bigger challenges we need to figure out,” Rubio noted, adding that whether real progress is possible in the near term is still uncertain.
“There’s no one saying this can be done in 12 hours,” Rubio said. “But we want to see how far apart it is and whether those differences can even be narrowed.”
Neither the French presidency nor foreign ministry offered immediate comments on the developments.
