Secretary of State Marco Rubio before a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Paris on Thursday to discuss the stages towards a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine.
Julien de Rosa / AFP via Getty Images
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Julien de Rosa / AFP via Getty Images
PARIS – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that President Trump would move away from peace talks with Russia and Ukraine in a few days if no progress is made.
Speaking after a day of negotiations in Paris, Rubio said that the administration would not let talks “go out for weeks or months” and would pivot other priorities if the efforts are dropped.
“If we are so far away, it will not happen, then the president is ready to move on,” Rubio told journalists. He added that Trump wanted to determine in a few days if an agreement is possible.
His remarks were contrasting with the more positive tone of the vice-president Vance in Rome, where he expressed his optimism that recent developments could help end the war. “We feel optimistic,” said Vance, following a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The Paris meeting, organized by French President Emmanuel Macron, included US officials Rubio and Steve Witkoff’s special envoy, as well as representatives of Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Germany. He marked a change towards more European involvement in the peace efforts led by the United States.
The emergency reflects a deadline: Trump gave his team 100 days to find an agreement after reending with Putin in February. Meanwhile, Ukraine reported the opening to a ceasefire, although Russia has delayed.
Russian night drones and missiles have targeted several Ukrainian cities according to the officials, killing at least two people. The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned attacks in a post on X. “This is how Russia began this Good Friday – with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, Shahed – Maiming Our People and Cities”
In the city in the northeast of Sumy, only a week after the fatal Sunday on Sunday there, a bakery producing Easter cakes was struck by a drone, killing a person.
Rubio refused to detail the American peace framework, saying that it was too early to finalize decisions such as security guarantees. However, he described the “very positive” Paris talks and praised European participation. A follow -up meeting is scheduled in London next week.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has recognized certain progress, but warned that “many difficult discussions are still waiting for us”.
Some of these discussions involve possible trade agreements between Russia and the United States, which the Kremlin has suspended as an incentive to the Trump administration, and as a chance to get out of economic sanctions against Moscow placed by a certain number of Western countries since the large-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022.
These talks and a perception in European capitals that the Trump administration promotes Russia in Ukraine, represents an obstacle to a world peace solution involving the United States, the European Union, Russia and Ukraine.
Nicolas Tenzer, professor at Sciences Po University, told NPR that EU countries will not accept any agreement.
“I think the key question right now is when and how Europeans will say to Trump” OK, you can have an agreement with Putin but it is our duty not to respect it. “”
