Rubio warned earlier that the administration was ready to abandon talks in the coming days if it became clear a deal was impossible. The potential ceasefire between the two countries has largely fallen apart as Moscow restarted its offensive in the war it started.
“We are now reaching a point where we need to decide and determine whether this is even possible or not,” Rubio told reporters at the airport before leaving Paris, where he had traveled to coordinate with allies.
“I’m talking about a matter of days, whether or not this is doable over the next few weeks,” he added. “If it is, we’re in. If it’s not, then we have other priorities to focus on.”
‘We are done’
The remarks are another sign of growing impatience in the U.S. administration. During his election campaign, Trump promised to bring Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine to a swift end, but talks between Washington and Moscow have stalled in recent weeks.
In France, the secretary of state added that while the United States was “prepared to do whatever we can to facilitate that and make sure … that [the war] ends in a durable and just way,” if that is “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 are done.”
Rubio had traveled to the French capital alongside special envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg for ceasefire talks on Thursday with French President Emmanuel Macron and high-level delegations from Germany, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
