U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested on Friday that the Trump Administration could “move on” from helping Ukraine and Russia find peace if there is no sign of progress in the coming days.
Rubio spoke in Paris about the ongoing war following discussions with European and Ukrainian officials, explaining that President Donald Trump “has spent 87 days at the highest level of this government repeatedly making 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,” he added, according to The New York Times.
The Secretary of State continued by noting that a lack of progress means Trump could get to a point where “he’s gonna say, ‘Well, we’re done.’”
“If it’s not gonna happen, then we’re just gonna move on,” he stated, per Fox News.
Rubio explained that this decision could be made much quicker than people would expect.
“We’re not going to continue with this endeavour for weeks and months on end. So 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, as reported by Reuters.
Rubio credited European officials for the support in these negotiations and pointed to the potential U.S. security guarantees necessary for a deal to come to fruition, noting that those are issues they can “fix in a way that’s acceptable to everyone,” per Reuters.
Trump has maintained his belief that peace can be brokered between the two countries, calling for an “immediate ceasefire” just one month before he took office in January, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Since being inaugurated, Trump has threatened significant action against both Russia and Ukraine if there is no progress made on a peace deal.
The President has threatened to impose tariffs, sanctions, and additional taxes on Russia if there is no progress toward a deal, claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin must end this “ridiculous war,” as reported by DX.
Similarly, the White House has informed Ukraine various times that aid could be suspended if there is no progress.
Trump previously suspended aid to Ukraine following a contentious meeting at the White House with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in which both the President and Vice President were critical of Ukraine’s response to the support.
This aid has since been reinstated, though it sent a clear message to Ukraine that peace talks must improve for any additional support.