Following Rubio’s comments, the Kremlin said it was committed resolving the conflict and open to dialogue.
U.S. President Donald Trump will drop efforts to clinch a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine in the absence of any clear signs of progress, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said.
“We’re not going to continue with this endeavor for weeks and months on end,” Rubio told reporters in Paris on Friday after meeting with European and Ukrainian leaders.
“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,” he added.
Rubio’s comments reflect mounting U.S. frustration with the lack of progress in securing a peace deal—something Trump had pledged to do soon after returning to office in January.
“If it’s not possible—if we’re so far apart that this is not going to happen—then I think the president is probably at a point where he’s going to say, ‘Well, we’re done,’” Rubio said.
Trump reiterated Rubio’s call for progress in peace negotiations later on Friday, during a White House swearing-in ceremony for Dr. Mehmet Oz to be the next administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The president declined to provide a more specific timeline for a deal, but said he wants to decide “quickly.”
“If, for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say, ‘You’re foolish, you’re fools, you’re horrible people,’ and we’re going to just take a pass,” Trump said. “But hopefully we won’t have to do that.”
In an effort to push both sides to the negotiating table, Trump has threatened to impose tougher sanctions on Russia and end further U.S. military support for Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that diplomatic contacts were “quite complicated, because, naturally, the topic is not an easy one.”
“Russia is committed to resolving this conflict, ensuring its own interests, and is open to dialogue,” he added.
“We continue to do this.”
Despite a flurry of recent diplomatic activity, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said this week that it was “not easy to agree” on what he called “key components” of a peace settlement.
Speaking to the Russian press on April 14, Lavrov confirmed that Moscow and Washington had yet to agree on even the basic parameters of a ceasefire deal.
Nevertheless, he added, “They are being discussed.”
Moscow’s terms for ending the three-year-old war include recognition of its sovereignty over four Ukrainian regions that it invaded in 2022 and currently views as Russian territory.
Russia also demands the withdrawal of all Ukrainian forces from these regions, along with iron-clad guarantees that Ukraine will never join the Western NATO alliance.
But Kyiv and several European capitals, along with some Trump administration officials, say Moscow’s demands are unacceptable and would amount to Ukraine’s de facto capitulation.
By Adam Morrow
