\n
![](\"https:\/\/kubrick.htvapps.com\/htv-prod-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/images\/gettyimages-2210188547-6802c0adf1302.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tPresident Donald Trump on Friday said negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are \u201ccoming to a head\u201d and insisted that neither side is \u201cplaying\u201d him in his push to end the grinding war.Trump spoke shortly after Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that the U.S. may \u201cmove on\u201d from trying to secure a Russia-Ukraine peace deal if there is no progress in the coming days, after months of efforts have failed to bring an end to the fighting.\u201cNow, if for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we\u2019re just going to say you\u2019re foolish. You are fools, you horrible people,\u201d Trump said. \u201cAnd we\u2019re going to just take a pass. But hopefully, we won\u2019t have to do that.\u201dRubio’s dour assessment came after landmark talks in Paris among U.S., Ukrainian and European officials produced outlines for steps toward peace and appeared to make some long-awaited progress. Another meeting is expected next week in London, and Rubio suggested it could be decisive in determining whether the Trump administration continues its involvement.\u201cWe are now reaching a point where we need to decide whether this is even possible or not,\u201d Rubio told reporters in Paris. \u201cBecause if it\u2019s not, then I think we\u2019re just going to move on. It\u2019s not our war. We have other priorities to focus on.\u201dHe said the U.S. administration wants to decide \u201cin a matter of days.\u201dThe State Department said Rubio issued the same warning in a phone call Friday with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, telling him that \u201cif a clear path to peace does not emerge soon, the United States will step back from efforts to broker peace.\u201dTrump said \u201cMarco is right\u201d that the dynamic of the negotiations must change, but stopped short of saying he’s ready to walk away.\u201cWell, I don\u2019t want to say that,\u201d Trump said. \u201cBut we want to see it end.\u201dRubio\u2019s comments stepped up pressure on both sides to reach a peace deal, even as the U.S. and Ukraine made progress on a minerals agreement that Trump has sought to recoup billions of dollars in military assistance that Washington has sent Kyiv since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion in February 2022.They also indicated the road to a complete truce will be long and mired with contention, despite Trump repeatedly claiming on the campaign trail that he could end the war within a day. Trump said last month that he was \u201cbeing a little bit sarcastic.\u201dComing out of the Paris talks, the Americans are ready to use both carrot and stick strategies with Russia and understand the need for \u2033a relationship of force that allows them to get commitments from both sides,” said a French diplomatic official who took part in the talks but was not authorized to comment publicly.The Americans and Europeans discussed sanctions but \u2033not the question of easing sanctions” on Russia. The official said the European Union needs to use \u2033all instruments at our disposition,” notably to have levers of influence over the Russians to ensure they commit to eventual promises.U.S. Vice President JD Vance struck a more hopeful tone in Rome on Friday, ahead of talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.\u201cWe think we have some interesting things to report on, of course in private,\u201d he said. On the negotiations, \u201cI won\u2019t prejudge them, but we do feel optimistic that we can hopefully bring this war, this very brutal war, to a close.\u201dHe didn\u2019t give more details.Progress on minerals dealThe U.S. and Ukraine are nearing a long-delayed deal granting the U.S. access to Ukraine\u2019s vast mineral resources, which has been intertwined with Trump’s peace push. Trump said Thursday: “We have a minerals deal.” Ukraine’s economy minister said Friday that the two countries signed a memorandum of intent ahead of a possible fuller agreement later.The deal, which Ukrainian Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said she signed with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, is expected to pave the way for significant investments, infrastructure modernization and long-term cooperation.The framework of the mineral deal had stalled in February following a contentious Oval Office meeting between Trump, Vance and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.Russia says its \u2018open to dialogue\u2019Despite apparent impatience with the peace efforts, Rubio called Thursday\u2019s Paris talks constructive. He said he informed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about the outlines that emerged, but wouldn\u2019t say how Lavrov reacted.When asked about Rubio\u2019s comments on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that \u201cfairly complex\u201d negotiations are ongoing between Russia and the U.S. He did not give details.\u201cRussia is striving toward resolving this conflict, securing its own interests, and is open to dialogue. We are continuing to do this,\u201d he said.Peskov stressed that a limited, 30-day ceasefire backed by Washington that both Russia and Ukraine last month embraced in principle has now lapsed, but did not say what steps Moscow might take next.While voicing their readiness to implement the agreement, the warring parties issued conflicting statements soon after their separate talks with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia. They differed on the start time of halting strikes, and alleged near-immediate breaches by the other side.After weeks of tensions with European allies, Rubio said the European negotiators proved helpful. “The U.K. and France and Germany can help us move the ball on this.”European concerns are growing about Trump\u2019s readiness to draw closer to Russia. The talks in Paris were the first time since Trump\u2019s inauguration that top American, Ukrainian and European officials met to discuss an end to the war, which has posed the biggest security challenge to Europe since World War II.The meetings addressed security guarantees for Ukraine in the future, but Rubio wouldn\u2019t discuss any possible U.S. role in that. Some kind of U.S. support for Ukraine is seen as crucial to ensuring that Russia would not attack again after a peace deal is reached.Rubio and presidential envoy Steve Witkoff have helped lead U.S. efforts to seek peace, and Witkoff has met three times with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Rubio said. Several rounds of negotiations have been held in Saudi Arabia.Moscow has effectively refused to accept a separate, comprehensive ceasefire that Trump has pushed and Ukraine has endorsed. Russia has made it conditional on a halt in Ukraine\u2019s mobilization efforts and Western arms supplies, which are demands rejected by Ukraine.Asked if Putin was dragging his feet on negotiations, Trump replied, \u201cI hope not. We’ll know about that soon if he is.”Thomas Wright, a former National Security Council adviser closely involved in the Biden administration\u2019s efforts on the war, said Trump’s approach to the negotiations \u201cwas sort of remarkable\u201d for putting all the pressure for concessions on Ukraine. It suggests, he said, that Trump might want to \u201csidestep the war\u201d and move forward to deepen ties with Russia.Wright said if the Trump administration were to pull support from Ukraine, it would help Russia but it wouldn’t end the war.\u201cThe only way to bring the war to an end is to somehow increase pressure on Putin to negotiate seriously,’ said Wright, now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “And the only way you can really do that is by … maintaining and intensifying support for Ukraine on the battlefield.\u201dUkrainian cities attackedMeanwhile, Russia kept up its deadly strikes on Ukrainian cities, wounding scores of civilians days after missiles killed at least 34 during Palm Sunday celebrations in the northern city of Sumy.Video below: Russia ramps up attacks on Ukraine amid talks with USOne person died and 98 others, including six children, were hurt as Russia hit Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, on Friday, its mayor Ihor Terekhov reported. He said cluster munitions struck a densely populated neighborhood four times.Russian drones also targeted a bakery in Sumy, less than a week after the deadly Palm Sunday strike there, killing a customer and wounding an employee, the regional prosecutor’s office said. Photos released by the agency showed rows of Easter cakes stacked inside a devastated building, covered in thick dust, as a huge hole gaped in the wall behind them and rubble piled up on the floor.Last Sunday\u2019s strike on Sumy, resulting in mass casualties, was the second large-scale missile attack to claim civilian lives in just over a week. Some 20 people, including nine children, died on April 4 as missiles struck Zelenskyy\u2019s hometown of Kryvyi Rih.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n