By Alex Stambaugh and Ross Adkin, CNN
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Photo: AFP / Allison Robbert
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says if it is not possible to end the war in Ukraine, the United States needs to abandon its efforts and move on.
"If it is not possible to end the war in Ukraine, we need to move on," he told reporters before departing Paris on Friday
"We need to determine very quickly now, and I'm talking about a matter of days, whether or not this is doable."
The comments come a day after he and special envoy Steve Witkoff met with European and Ukrainian allies as US President Donald Trump's administration pushes for an end to Russia's war in Ukraine.
A US-authored outline of a peace plan had received an "encouraging reception" at the talks, according to a State Department readout, which did not give details on the outline.
Rubio also spoke with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and conveyed the same outline, the readout said.
Speaking on Friday, Rubio said he and Witkoff had come to Paris to "begin to talk about more specific outlines of what it might take to end the war" and whether or not this is a war that could be ended.
"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 we're done," he said.
"It's not our war. We didn't start it. The United States has been helping Ukraine for the past three years and we want it to end, but it's not our war," he added.
"President (Trump) has spent 87 days at the highest level of this government repeatedly taking efforts to bring this war to and end. We are now reaching a point when we need to decide and determine whether this is even possible or not. Which is why we're engaging both sides."
- CNN
