The U.S. will cease its attempts to negotiate a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia in the following days if there is no signal that an agreement is reachable, U.S. Secretary of State said after meeting European and Ukrainian officials in Paris. As Marco Rubio added, U.S. President Donald Trump is interested in reaching a deal but has other priorities as well.

"I think it`s important to remind everybody that the Ukraine war is a terrible thing, but it’s not our war. We didn’t start it. The United States has been helping Ukraine for over the last three years, and we want it to end. But it’s not our war. I wanted everyone to understand that. And the reason why I make that point is the President has spent 87 days at the highest level of this government repeatedly taking efforts to bring this war to an end.

We are now reaching a point where we need to decide and determine whether this is even possible or not, which is why we`re engaging both sides. As you know, Ambassador Witkoff has had not one, not two, but three meetings with Vladimir Putin to determine the Russian perspective on this and understand what it would take for them to end it. We – General Kellogg, myself, and others – have had repeated engagements with the Ukrainians.

So we came here yesterday to sort of begin to talk about more specific outlines of what it might take to end the war, to try to figure out very soon – and I`m talking about a matter of days, not a matter of weeks – whether or not this is a war that can be ended. If it can, we`re prepared to do whatever we can to facilitate that and make sure that it happens, that it ends in a durable and just way.

If it`s not possible – if we`re so far apart that this is not going to happen – then I think the President`s probably at a point where he`s going to say, well, we`re done. We`ll do what we can on the margins. We`ll be ready to help whenever you’re ready to have peace. But we’re not going to continue with this endeavor 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 – over the next few weeks. If it is, we`re in. If it`s not, then we’ll have to – we have other priorities to focus on as well", - said Marco Rubio.