Extract from ABC News
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says there must be progress on Russia-Ukraine peace talks. (Reuters: Julien De Rosa)
In short:
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the US could walk away from trying to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal in "a matter of days".
He says US President Donald Trump feels "very strongly" about reaching an agreement "very quickly".
What's next?
Mr Rubio says while a peace deal will be difficult to strike, there must be signs it can be done soon.
United States President Donald Trump will walk away from Russia-Ukraine peace talks within days unless there are clear signs a deal can be done, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says.
Speaking in Paris on Friday local time after meeting with European and Ukrainian leaders, Mr Rubio said the US would not "continue with this endeavour for weeks and months on end".
"We need to determine very quickly now, and I'm talking about a matter of days, whether or not this is doable in the next few weeks," he said.
"The president feels very strongly about that.
"He has dedicated a lot of time and energy to this ... this is important, but there are a lot of other really important things going on that deserve just as much, if not more attention."
Marco Rubio met this week with European and Ukrainian leaders. (Reuters: Ludovic Marin)
However, while meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome, Vice President JD Vance said the US was optimistic it could put an end to the three-year conflict.
"Since there are 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 told reporters.
There was no immediate comment from Paris, London, Berlin or Kyiv on Mr Rubio's statement, Reuters said.
Talks 'constructive and positive'
Mr Rubio's warning came amid signs of some progress in US talks with Ukraine.
Mr Trump said on Thursday he expected to sign a deal with Kyiv next week that would give the US access to Ukraine's minerals.
An attempt to sign a minerals pact in February fell apart after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's clash with Mr Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office.
The talks in Paris on Thursday were the first substantive, high level and in-person discussions on Mr Trump's peace push that have included European powers.
Following the talks, Mr Rubio said a US peace framework received an "encouraging reception".
Meanwhile Mr Zelenskyy's office said the talks were constructive and positive.
Mr Trump promised during his election campaign to end the war in Ukraine within his first 24 hours in the White House.
He moderated that claim on taking office, suggesting a deal by April or May as obstacles mounted.
The US president has pressured both sides to come to the negotiating table, threatening tougher sanctions on Russia or an end to billions of dollars in US military support for Kyiv.
Marco Rubio met with European foreign affairs ministers on Friday, local time. (Reuters: Julien De Rosa)
Calls for peace deal progress
Mr Rubio said he spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after the Paris talks and had told him they had been constructive.
He also briefed him on "some of the elements of" the US peace framework.
Mr Rubio said it was clear a peace deal would be difficult to strike, but there needed to be signs it could be achieved soon.
"There's no one saying this can be done in 12 hours,"he said.
"But we want to see how far apart it is and whether those differences can even be narrowed, if it's even possible to get movement within the period of time we have in mind."
Reuters
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