Not our war: Rubio says US may drop Ukraine peace efforts if no progress soon

US state secretary Marco Rubio on Friday said the US may “move on” from trying to secure a Russia-Ukraine peace deal if there is no progress in the coming days, after months of efforts have failed to bring an end to the fighting.

Rubio spoke in Paris after landmark talks among US, Ukrainian and European officials produced outlines for steps toward peace and appeared to make some long-awaited progress. A new meeting is expected next week in London, and Rubio suggested that could be decisive in determining whether the continues its involvement.

“We are now reaching a point where we need to decide whether this is even possible or not,” Rubio told reporters. “Because if it's not, then I think we're just going to move on. It's not our war. We have other priorities to focus on.” He said the US administration wants to decide “in a matter of days”.

Rubio's comments stepped up pressure on both sides to reach a peace deal, even as the US and Ukraine made progress on a minerals agreement that Trump has sought to recoup billions of dollars in military assistance that Washington sent Kyiv since Russia's full scale invasion in February 2022.

They also indicated the road to a complete truce will be long and mired in contention, despite US President Donald Trump repeatedly claiming on the campaign trail that he could end the war within a day. Trump said last month that he was “being a little bit sarcastic” when he claimed that.

US vice-president J.D. Vance struck a more hopeful tone in Rome on Friday, ahead of talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. “We think we have some interesting things to report on, of course in private,” he said.

On the negotiations, “I won't prejudge them, but we do feel optimistic that we can hopefully bring this war, this very brutal war, to a close.” He didn't offer more details.

US will abandon efforts to end the war in Ukraine if it proves impossible to broker meaningful progress in the next several days, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

He also said that US advises EU to drop sanctions on Russia to reach a “deal.”

..So all you did was align with… pic.twitter.com/jFmj7c6Ixp

— Olga Nesterova (@onestpress) April 18, 2025

Rubio's comments came as the US and Ukraine are nearing a long-delayed deal granting the US access to Ukraine's vast mineral resources, which has been intertwined with Trump's peace push.

Trump said on Thursday: "We have a minerals deal." Ukraine's economy minister said on Friday that the two countries signed a memorandum of intent ahead of a possible fuller agreement later.

The deal, which Ukrainian economy minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said she signed with US treasury secretary Scott Bessent, is expected to pave the way for significant investments, infrastructure modernisation and long-term cooperation.

The framework of the mineral deal had stalled in February following a contentious Oval Office meeting between Trump, Vance, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Negotiations have since resumed.

Despite apparent impatience with the peace efforts, Rubio called Thursday's Paris talks constructive. He didn't single out Russia or Ukraine as blocking peace efforts. He said he informed Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov about the outlines that emerged, but wouldn't say how Lavrov reacted.

When asked about Rubio's comments on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “fairly complex” negotiations are ongoing between Russia and the US. He did not give details but said no direct talks between Trump and Putin are scheduled in the coming days. “Russia is striving toward resolving this conflict, securing its own interests, and is open to dialogue. We are continuing to do this,” he said.

Peskov also stressed that a limited, 30-day ceasefire backed by Washington that both Russia and Ukraine last month embraced in principle has now lapsed, but did not say what steps Moscow might take next.

While voicing their readiness to implement the agreement, the warring parties issued conflicting statements soon after their separate talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia. They differed on the start time of halting strikes, and alleged near-immediate breaches by the other side.

After weeks of tensions with European allies, Rubio said the European negotiators proved helpful. "The UK and France and Germany can help us move the ball on this."

🇺🇸🇺🇦 #Ukraine and the US signed a "memorandum of intent" Thursday to advance a deal on US access to #Kyiv’s natural resources and critical #minerals.

🗓️ Both sides aim to finalise the agreement by April 26. pic.twitter.com/Hqf2DREdUC

— FRANCE 24 English (@France24_en) April 18, 2025

European concerns are growing about Trump's readiness to draw closer to Russia. The talks in Paris were the first time since Trump's inauguration that top American, Ukrainian and European officials met to discuss an end to the war, which has posed the biggest security challenge to Europe since World War II.

The meetings addressed security guarantees for Ukraine in the future, but Rubio wouldn't discuss any possible US role in that. Some kind of US support for Ukraine is seen as crucial to ensuring that Russia would not attack again after a peace deal is reached.

Rubio and presidential envoy Steve Witkoff have helped lead US efforts to seek peace, and Witkoff has met three times with Putin, Rubio said. Several rounds of negotiations have been held in Saudi Arabia.

Moscow has effectively refused to accept a comprehensive ceasefire that Trump has pushed and Ukraine has endorsed. Russia has made it conditional on a halt in Ukraine's mobilisation efforts and Western arms supplies, which are demands rejected by Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russia kept up a series of deadly strikes on Ukrainian cities, according to officials there, wounding scores of civilians days after missiles during Palm Sunday celebrations in the northern city of Sumy.

One person died and 98 others, including six children, were hurt as Russia hit Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, early in the day, its mayor Ihor Terekhov reported on Friday. He said cluster munitions struck a “densely populated” neighbourhood four times.

Russian drones also targeted a bakery in Sumy, less than a week after the deadly Palm Sunday strike, killing a customer and wounding an employee, the regional prosecutor's office said.

Photos released by the agency showed rows of Easter cakes stacked inside a devastated building, covered in thick dust, as a huge hole gaped in the wall behind them and rubble piled up on the floor.

Last Sunday's strike on Sumy, resulting in mass casualties, was the second large-scale missile attack to claim civilian lives in just over a week. Some 20 people, including nine children, died on 4 April as missiles of Kryvyi Rih.