Not Our War’: Rubio Says US to ‘Move On’ if Peace Talks Stall

WASHINGTON DC – The top US diplomat said Friday that his country was prepared to be engaged in Ukraine peace efforts for “as long as it takes, but not indefinitely, not without progress,” Kyiv Post’s Washington correspondent reports.

Speaking to reporters at Le Bourget airport in France before flying to Washington Friday morning, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called Paris talks “constructive, very helpful” and thanked European partners for hosting them, signaling another meeting early next week, where he said, “we’ll have some more definitive answers about how close we are to actually making progress, but this isn’t going to go on forever.”

He emphasized: “The Ukraine war is a terrible thing, but it’s not our war.”

Rubio went on to add that US President Donald Trump was ready to walk away from efforts to broker the peace deal “within days” unless there are clear signs that a deal can be done.

“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’ll talk to you 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. That’s 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 is probably at a point where he’s going to say, well, we’re done... We have other priorities to focus on as well,” he said.

Other Topics of Interest

Germany Eyes PAC-3 Patriot Production Deal Ahead of Ankara NATO Summit

For now, only the US and Japan are making the latest generation Patriot missiles as demand surges worldwide.

“So if they’re serious about peace – either side, or both – we want to help.  If it’s not going to happen, then we’re just going to move on,” he added.

Rubio’s warning came amid early signs that some progress had been made in Paris. “I thought we had a positive meeting yesterday,” the Secretary clarified without offering further details.

Asked about potential US security guarantees for Ukraine, Rubio acknowledged that the topic came up in the talks in Paris.

“We’ve heard about it, and it’s not an illegitimate desire. Every sovereign nation on earth has a right to defend itself,” he said, adding that the US recognizes Ukraine “has to feel like it has the ability to defend itself from a future attack, from anyone.”

While acknowledging the issue of security guarantees, Rubio said: “We can fix in sort of a way that’s acceptable to everyone,” but “we have bigger challenges that we need to figure out, whether it’s even possible within the short term.”

He later added: “Obviously the Ukrainians have to go back home. They have to run it by their president. They have to take into account, you know, their views on all of this, and we hope to hear back from them very soon.”

As for the Russians, Rubio said he spoke with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov after the Paris talks also to brief him on “some of the elements of” the US peace framework.

He went on to add: “We thought it was positive that nobody rejected anything, nobody got up from the table and walked away.  They’re going to go back to their capital, spend a few days mulling over it, come back to us early next week… We proposed an outline. We didn’t go into specificity about it, but I think he has an understanding of some of the elements of it. I’m sure he does. I said we thought it was constructive.”