Secretary of State Marco Rubio before a meeting with the French foreign minister in Paris on Thursday to discuss steps toward a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
Julien de Rosa/AFP via Getty Images
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Julien de Rosa/AFP via Getty Images
PARIS — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has warned that President Trump will walk away from peace talks with Russia and Ukraine in a matter of days if no progress is made.
Speaking after a day of negotiations in Paris, Rubio said the administration won’t let talks “drag on for weeks or months” and will pivot to other priorities if efforts stall.
“If we’re so far apart this won’t happen, then the president is ready to move on,” Rubio told reporters. He added that Trump wants to determine within days whether a deal is possible.
His remarks contrasted with Vice President Vance’s more positive tone in Rome, where he expressed optimism that recent developments could help end the war. “We do feel optimistic,” Vance said, following a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The Paris meeting, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, included U.S. officials Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff, as well as representatives from Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Germany. It marked a shift toward more European involvement in U.S.-led peace efforts.
The urgency reflects a deadline: Trump gave his team 100 days to find a deal after reengaging with Putin in February. Meanwhile, Ukraine has signaled openness to a ceasefire, though Russia has delayed.
Overnight Russian drones and missiles targeted multiple Ukraine cities according to officials there, killing at least two people. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attacks in a post on X. “This is how Russia began this Good Friday – with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, Shahed’s – maiming our people and cities”
In the northeastern city of Sumy, only one week after the deadly Palm Sunday strikes there, a bakery producing Easter cakes was struck by a drone, killing one person.
Rubio declined to detail the U.S. peace framework, saying it was too early to finalize decisions like security guarantees. However, he called the Paris talks “very positive” and welcomed further European participation. A follow-up meeting is planned in London next week.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov acknowledged some progress but cautioned that “many difficult discussions still lie ahead.”
Some of those discussions involve possible business deals between Russia and the United States, which the Kremlin has dangled as an incentive to the Trump administration, and as a chance to break out of economic sanctions on Moscow placed by a number of Western countries since Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Those talks, and a perception in European capitals that the Trump administration is favoring Russia over Ukraine, represent an obstacle to a global peace solution involving the U.S., the European Union, Russia and Ukraine.
Nicolas Tenzer, a professor at Sciences Po university, told NPR the EU countries won’t accept any deal.
“I think the key question right now is when and how the Europeans will say to Trump ‘OK, you can have a deal with Putin but it’s our duty not to respect it.”