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."
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.
Talks 'constructive and positive'
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 Rubio's comments on Friday underline mounting frustrations in the White House over a lack of progress in pushes to settle a growing list of geopolitical challenges.
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.
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."
Neither French presidency or foreign ministry immediately returned requests from Reuters for comment.
Reuters
