Rubio says the US will drop Ukraine-Russia peace efforts if no progress within days

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio center and Germany's Political Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Gunter Sautter right attend a meeting on Ukraine and its prevention in Paris Thursday April Julien de Rosa Pool via AP AP Julien de Rosa US Secretary of State Marco Rubio center and Germany's Political Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Gunter Sautter right attend a meeting on Ukraine and its prevention in Paris Thursday April Julien de Rosa Pool via AP AP Julien de Rosa PARIS AP Secretary of State Marco Rubio commented Friday that the U S may move on from trying to secure a Russia-Ukraine peace deal if there is no progress in the coming days after months of efforts have failed to bring an end to the fighting He spoke in Paris after landmark talks among U S Ukrainian and European administrators produced outlines for actions toward peace and appeared to make particular long-awaited progress A new meeting is expected next week in London and Rubio suggested that could be decisive in determining whether the Trump administration continues its involvement We are now reaching a point where we need to decide whether this is even attainable or not Rubio explained reporters Because if it s not then I think we re just going to move on It s not our war We have other priorities to focus on He commented the U S administration wants to decide in a matter of days Rubio s comments stepped up pressure on both sides to reach a peace deal even as the U S and Ukraine made progress on a minerals agreement that Trump has sought to recoup billions of dollars in military assistance that Washington sent Kyiv since Russia s full scale invasion in February They also indicated the road to a complete truce will be long and mired with contention despite U S President Donald Trump repeatedly claiming on the campaign trail that he could end the war within a day Trump stated last month that he was being a little bit sarcastic when he claimed that U S Vice President JD Vance struck a more hopeful tone in Rome on Friday ahead of talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni We think we have various captivating things to summary on of subject in private he announced On 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 didn t give more details Progress on minerals deal Rubio s comments came as the U S and Ukraine are nearing a long-delayed deal granting the U S access to Ukraine s vast mineral materials which has been intertwined with President Donald Trump s peace push Trump disclosed Thursday We have a minerals deal Ukraine s financial market minister disclosed Friday that the two countries signed a memorandum of intent ahead of a feasible fuller agreement later The deal which Ukrainian Market system Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko revealed she signed with U S Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is expected to pave the way for critical investments infrastructure modernization and long-term cooperation The framework of the mineral deal had stalled in February following a contentious Oval Office meeting between Trump U S Vice President JD Vance and Ukraine s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Negotiations have since resumed Russia says open to dialogue Despite apparent impatience with the peace efforts Rubio called Thursday s Paris talks constructive He didn t single out Russia or Ukraine as blocking peace efforts He declared he informed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about the outlines that emerged but wouldn t say how Lavrov reacted When questioned about Rubio s comments on Friday Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov recounted reporters that fairly complex negotiations are ongoing between Russia and the U S He did not give details but noted no direct talks between Trump and Putin are scheduled in the coming days Russia is striving toward resolving this conflict securing its own interests and is open to dialogue We are continuing to do this he commented Peskov also stressed that a limited -day ceasefire backed by Washington that both Russia and Ukraine last month embraced in principle has now lapsed but did not say what policies Moscow might take next While voicing their readiness to implement the agreement the warring parties issued conflicting statements soon after their separate talks with U S agents in Saudi Arabia They differed on the start time of halting strikes and alleged near-immediate breaches by the other side After weeks of tensions with European allies Rubio stated the European negotiators proved helpful The U K and France and Germany can help us move the ball on this European concerns are growing about Trump s readiness to draw closer to Russia The talks in Paris were the first time since Trump s inauguration that top American Ukrainian and European executives met to discuss an end to the war which has posed the biggest measure challenge to Europe since World War II The meetings addressed protection guarantees for Ukraine in the future but Rubio wouldn t discuss any manageable U S role in that Specific kind of U S sponsorship for Ukraine is seen as crucial to ensuring that Russia would not attack again after a peace deal is reached Rubio and presidential envoy Steve Witkoff have helped lead U S efforts to seek peace and Witkoff has met three times with Putin Rubio revealed Several rounds of negotiations have been held in Saudi Arabia Moscow has effectively refused to accept a comprehensive ceasefire that Trump has pushed and Ukraine has endorsed Russia has made it conditional on a halt in Ukraine s mobilization efforts and Western arms supplies which are demands rejected by Ukraine Ukrainian cities attacked Meanwhile Russia kept up a series of deadly strikes on Ukrainian cities according to leaders there wounding scores of civilians days after missiles killed at least during Palm Sunday celebrations in the northern city of Sumy One person died and others including six children were hurt as Russia hit Kharkiv Ukraine s second-largest city early in the day its mayor Ihor Terekhov published on Friday He explained cluster munitions struck a densely populated neighborhood four times Russian drones also targeted a bakery in Sumy less than a week after the deadly Palm Sunday strike there killing a customer and wounding an employee the regional prosecutor s office announced Photos published by the agency demonstrated rows of Easter cakes stacked inside a devastated building covered in thick dust as a huge hole gaped in the wall behind them and rubble piled up on the floor Last Sunday s strike on Sumy resulting in mass casualties was the second large-scale missile attack to claim civilian lives in just over a week Various people including nine children died on April as missiles struck Zelenskyy s hometown of Kryvyi Rih - Arhirova revealed from Kyiv Ukraine Illia Novikov in Kyiv Joanna Kozlowska in London and Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this description Source