U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff are heading to Paris this week to discuss with European allies U.S. efforts to reach a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
Mr. Rubio and Mr. Witkoff will arrive in the French capital on Thursday for meetings, the State Department said.
Officials will hold “talks with European partners to advance President Trump’s goal of ending the Russia-Ukraine war and the violence,” department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said Wednesday.
She added that Mr Rubio would also “discuss ways to strengthen common interests in the region.”
French President Emmanuel Macron will meet Mr. Rubio and Mr. Witkoff, Mr. Macron’s office said. They will also discuss the war in Ukraine, the Middle East and Iran’s nuclear program with Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot.
Vice President J.D. Vance will also travel to Italy later this week, where he will meet with Prime Minister Georgia Meloni. She is scheduled to visit the White House on Thursday.
The meetings come amid growing concerns about Trump's willingness to improve relations with Russia as the US seeks to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine.
A number of other steps by the Trump administration, from imposing tariffs on goods from some of its closest partners to comments about NATO and Greenland, are also troubling.
Mr. Rubio and Mr. Witkoff have been at the forefront of U.S. efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict more than three years after Russia launched the war. Several rounds of talks have already taken place in Saudi Arabia, and Mr. Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.
Last month, Moscow and Kyiv reached an agreement on a 30-day halt to attacks on energy facilities, but Russia continued to carry out strikes every day.
Both sides have differing views on when the ceasefire began and the alleged daily violations by the other. Moscow has effectively refused to accept the comprehensive ceasefire that Trump insisted on and Ukraine supported.
Russia has set a condition for the cessation of Ukraine's mobilization and the supply of Western weapons, but Ukraine has rejected these demands.
In a sign of the wide range of challenges facing Mr. Witkoff as Mr. Trump seeks to broker peace talks from Ukraine to the Middle East, the envoy held talks last weekend with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas A
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
