Rubio to discuss fate of 'coalition of the willing' with French and British counterparts

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and retired General Keith Kellogg will be in Paris today and tomorrow to discuss joint efforts to start peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, as well as the fate of the "coalition of the willing", a mission led by Great Britain and France.

As Kyiv Post reports, the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The State Department officially announced Rubio and Witkoff's trip to Paris on Wednesday, noting, without details, that they will hold talks with European partners to promote US President Donald Trump's plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war and stop the bloodshed.

The duo was also joined by Kellogg in Paris as they left Washington on Wednesday evening, senior officials told the Kyiv Post.

The delegation is expected to meet with senior diplomats from France and the UK in Paris, along with other partners and leaders, the sources said.

“The key question is how to bridge the gap between strategy and execution and achieve our peace goals, and, of course, what to do with the coalition of the willing,” a Trump official told the Kyiv Post ahead of the Paris talks.

The Trump administration has never participated in coalition meetings, despite suggestions from several allied leaders, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who will meet with Trump today in Washington.

Several European diplomats stressed the importance of the coalition during their talks with Rubio at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, which took place in Brussels earlier this month.

"We can't really talk about those discussions [within] the coalition," a senior State Department official told the Kyiv Post correspondent during the meeting. /Telegraph/