US President Donald Trump on Friday said negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are “coming to a head” and insisted that neither side is “playing” him in his push to end the grinding war.
Trump spoke shortly after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that Washington might “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.
“Now, if for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say you’re foolish. You are fools, you horrible people,” Trump said. “And we’re going to just take a pass, but hopefully, we won’t have to do that.”
Photo: AP
Rubio’s dour assessment came after landmark talks in Paris among US, Ukrainian and European officials produced outlines for steps toward peace and appeared to make some long-awaited progress. Another meeting is expected next week in London, and Rubio suggested it could be decisive in determining whether the Trump administration continues its involvement.
“We are now reaching a point where we need to decide whether this is even possible or not,” Rubio told reporters in Paris. “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.”
The US Department of State said Rubio issued the same warning in a phone call on Friday with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, telling him that “if a clear path to peace does not emerge soon, the United States will step back from efforts to broker peace.”
Trump said “Marco is right” that the dynamic of the negotiations must change, but stopped short of saying he was ready to walk away.
Rubio said he informed Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov about the outlines that emerged from the Paris meeting.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “fairly complex” negotiations are ongoing between Russia and the US.
“Russia is striving toward resolving this conflict, securing its own interests and is open to dialogue. We are continuing to do this,” he said.
While voicing their readiness to implement the agreement, the warring parties issued conflicting statements 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.
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