Washington is ceasing its mediation efforts between Moscow and Kiev, US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said at a briefing.
"The contribution will change in that we will not be mediators... We certainly are still committed to it and will help and do what we can. But we are not going to fly around the world at the drop of a hat to mediate meetings",
the message reads.
The time has come for direct negotiations between the parties and a settlement of the situation, Bruce noted.
According to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the US side is not giving up in its attempts to settle the situation in Ukraine, but there are other important global problems.
"We're not going to give up on it<...>, but there does come a point where the President has to decide how much more time at the highest levels of our government do you dedicate it. We've got so many – I would argue even more important – issues going on around the world.",
Rubio said.
The day before, it was announced that the USA and Ukraine had concluded a deal on minerals. According to President Donald Trump, the USA could receive more than $350 billion as a result.
