The United States may withdraw from its efforts to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine within days if no tangible progress is made, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned on Friday. The message reflects growing frustration within the Trump administration over stalled negotiations and signals a potential shift in US foreign policy, which saw billions of dollars in weapons and military aid poured into Ukraine under the Biden administration.
Speaking to reporters amid ongoing high-level talks in Paris involving the US, Ukraine, and key European powers, Rubio said the administration is not willing to prolong negotiations indefinitely.
“I think it’s important to remind everybody that the Ukraine war is a terrible thing, but it’s not our war. We didn’t start it,” Rubio said. “The United States has been helping Ukraine for over the last three years, and we want it to end. But it’s not our war. I wanted everyone to understand that. And the reason why I make that point is the President has spent 87 days at the highest level of this government repeatedly taking efforts to bring this war to an end.”
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“If it’s not possible – if we’re so far apart that this is not going to happen – then I think the president’s probably at a point where he’s going to say, well, we’re done,” he continued. “We’ll do what we can on the margins. We’ll be ready to help whenever you’re ready to have peace. But we’re not going to continue with this endeavor for weeks and months on end.”
The Paris meeting marked the first major diplomatic engagement on the conflict since Trump returned to office. While the US-led peace framework received a cautiously positive response from Ukrainian and European leaders, significant gaps remain, particularly over territorial disputes and continued Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure. Trump had previously proposed a temporary halt to such attacks as a goodwill measure, but violations have persisted, undermining trust.
Rubio noted that talks with Russian officials have continued discreetly following the Paris summit, but acknowledged a growing skepticism within the administration about Russia’s willingness to compromise.
Adding complexity to the negotiations, the US and Ukraine have reportedly agreed in principle to a separate preliminary deal granting US access to Ukraine’s valuable mineral resources. A memorandum of intent has already been signed, with a more comprehensive agreement expected soon. While unrelated to the peace process directly, the minerals deal could play a strategic role in shaping future U.S.-Ukraine relations.
Despite the administration’s frustrations, Rubio emphasized that no party has formally walked away from the negotiating table. However, the warning from Washington places increased pressure on both Kyiv and Moscow to demonstrate a meaningful commitment to diplomacy.
“Hopefully we’ll have another meeting early next week, at some point, where we’ll have some more definitive answers about how close we are to actually making progress,” Rubio said, “but this isn’t going to go on forever.”
Connor Walcott is the lead writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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