Rubio warns that if the war in Ukraine is impossible, the United States needs to “continue”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that if the war in Ukraine is impossible, the United States needs to give up its efforts and move forward.
“If it is impossible to end the war in Ukraine, we need to move on,” he told reporters before leaving Paris. “We need to determine very quickly now, I'm talking about the question of how many days it is, whether that's possible.”
The comments were published the day after he and envoy Steve Witkoff met with European and Ukrainian allies as U.S. President Donald Trump's administration pushed to end Russia's war in Ukraine.
During the conversation, an outline of a peace plan implemented by the United States received an “encouraging reception” in negotiations, according to a State Department reader, who did not provide details in the outline. Readers say Rubio also spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and conveyed the same outline.
Rubio said he and Vidoc had come to Paris to “start talking about a more specific overview that might be needed to end the war” and whether it was a war that could end.
“If it's impossible, if we're so far apart that this won't happen, then I think the president might be what he's going to say is what we're done,” he said.
He added: “This is not our war. We have not started. The United States has been helping Ukraine for the past three years and we hope it ends, but this is not our war.”
“The President (Trump) spent 87 days at the highest level of his administration, repeatedly working to put this war into practice.
Meanwhile, Russia launched a missile attack on Ukraine overnight, attacking a residential area in Kharkif. Authorities said Friday that the strike killed one person and injured 67 people, adding that they feared more people would be trapped under the ruins of a damaged apartment building.
Going towards mineral trading
Rubio warned Friday that after the U.S. and Ukraine reached an agreement on the minerals deal Thursday night.
Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said Kiev and Washington have now signed a memorandum to move towards the proposed agreement.
“We are happy to announce the signed memorandum of intent with our U.S. partners that pave the way for the Economic Partnership Agreement and the establishment of the Ukrainian Reconstruction Investment Fund,” Svyrydenko said in an article on X.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier on Thursday that memorandums related to the deal could be signed remotely.
“The document is the result of the professional work of the negotiating team, which recently completed another round of technical discussions in Washington,” Svyrydenko continued. “Leading the finalization of the agreement and its signing, followed by parliamentary approval.”
“There are a lot to be done, but the current speed and significant progress make it reasonable to expect the document to be very beneficial to both countries,” Svyrydenko concluded.
No earlier iterations of the mineral transaction were signed after a public debate between Zelensky and Trump in February.
Sources told CNN that details of the proposed deal had changed, and finance officials met with Washington's Ukrainian delegation this week to hammer it.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
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