Trump will walk away from Russia-Ukraine talks if deal not 'doable' soon: Rubio
US Secretary of State Rubio said though Trump is keen to broker a deal between Russia and Ukraine he doesn't want to spend 'weeks and months' over it
In a severe blow to the ongoing peace process to end the Russia-Ukraine war, the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio made it amply clear on Friday (April 18) that although US President Donald Trump is keen to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, he is not going to spend "weeks and months" on this endeavour.
Further, he added that unless there are clear signs that such a deal is "doable in the next few weeks", Trump will walk away from the peace process.
According to a Reuters report, Rubio, who is currently in Paris, made this statement after a meeting with European and Ukrainian leaders.
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Trump's other priorities
Rubio added that it had to be ascertained within the next few weeks whether the Russia-Ukraine peace deal is possible or not.
"We're not going to continue with this endeavour 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 next few weeks. If it is we're in. If it's not, then we have other priorities to focus on as well," Rubio said in Paris as quoted in the news report.
The US Secretary of State asserted that although Trump was interested in resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he was keen to move on to other priorities if there were no signs of any substantial progress in the talks.
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Mounting challenges
During his presidential campaign, Trump had boasted that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours.
However, after taking office, Trump moderated his claims suggesting that a peace deal could happen by April or May, as challenges continue to mount.
The Russia-Ukraine war, which has been dragging for about three years, has become a bone of contention between US and European countries with President Trump purportedly siding with Kremlin and has already blamed Ukraine for the war.
The infamous Oval-Office spat between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy in February had already dealt a severe blow to the fragile peace process.