U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on Friday that if it is not possible to end the war in Ukraine, the United States should abandon its efforts and move on.
“If it is not possible to end the war in Ukraine, we need to move on,” he told reporters before departing Paris. “We need to determine very quickly now, and I’m talking about a matter of days, whether or not this is doable.”
These comments came a day after Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff met with European and Ukrainian allies as U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration continues to push for an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
A U.S.-authored outline of a peace plan received an “encouraging reception” during the talks, according to a State Department readout, which did not provide details on the plan. Rubio also spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and conveyed the same outline, the readout stated.
Speaking on Friday, Rubio said that he and Witkoff came to Paris to “begin talking about more specific outlines of what it might take to end the war” and whether or not this is a war that can be ended.
“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 we’re done,” he said.
“It’s not our war. We didn’t start it. The United States has been helping Ukraine for the past three years, and we want it to end, but it’s not our war,” he added.
“President Trump has spent 87 days at the highest level of this government repeatedly taking efforts to bring this war to an end. We are now reaching a point when we need to decide and determine whether this is even possible or not.”
Progress Toward a Minerals Deal
Rubio’s warning comes after the U.S. and Ukraine moved closer toward finalizing a minerals deal on Thursday night. Ukraine and the U.S. have now signed a memorandum as a step toward an Economic Partnership Agreement and the creation of an Investment Fund for Ukraine’s Reconstruction.