United States President Donald Trump said that negotiations between Ukraine and Russia were "reaching a climax" and insisted that neither side had "played him" in his bid to end the bitter war, the British newspaper The Guardian reports.
Trump spoke on Friday shortly after Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that the US could abandon efforts to secure a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine if there is no progress in the coming days, after months of efforts failed to end the fighting.
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"Now, if for some reason one of the two sides makes it difficult, we'll just say you're foolish. You're foolish, terrible people. And we'll just walk away. But hopefully we won't have to do that," Trump said.
The Guardian reports that Rubio's assessment followed talks in Paris between US, Ukrainian and European officials in which steps towards peace were outlined and long-awaited progress appeared to have been made.
Another meeting is expected in London next week, and Rubio suggested it could be decisive in determining whether the Trump administration will continue its involvement.
"We've reached a point now where we have to decide whether or not that's even possible. Because if it's not, then I think we're just going to move on. This is not our war. We have other priorities to focus on," Rubio told reporters in Paris.
He said the US administration wants to decide "in a few days."
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