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Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov “reaffirmed the readiness” of the political and diplomatic forces for the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Published on 23 Jul 2026
The top ambassadors of the United States and Russia will discuss the war in Ukraine on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in the Philippines.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday in Manila, with Russian media reporting that the meeting lasted just over half an hour.
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The settlement came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had spoken with a US delegation to resume stalled talks aimed at ending the decades-long conflict.
Lavrov “reaffirmed Russia’s readiness to resolve the conflict,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said, adding that the minister told Rubio that Moscow remains committed to the proposals made by President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin at their August 2025 summit in Alaska.
Lavrov “reiterated that it is unacceptable to continue supplying weapons to the Kyiv government”, the ministry said. The minister condemned “the destabilizing policy of the European countries, which still wants to ‘conquer Russia,'” it added.
The US State Department gave no details on the meeting, with a spokesman saying only that Rubio and Lavrov “discussed US-Russia relations and the need to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict”.
The two are also expected to discuss the conflict in the Middle East, which has seen Moscow condemn Washington’s strikes on its ally Iran.
“The war in Ukraine, I think, has hindered in many ways the ability of Russia and the United States to find common ground on other issues,” Rubio told reporters on Wednesday.
“This does not mean that we will not seek other areas to cooperate with. But at the same time… we want the war to end,” he added.
Rubio said the US remained open to taking part in resolving the conflict “if the opportunity arises”.
For his part, Lavrov said that the meeting “would be useful in any case”.
“It’s good to ask questions and get answers,” Lavrov told reporters on Wednesday, adding that he would ask Rubio about Trump’s recent comments.
Negotiations aimed at ending the conflict in Ukraine have stalled, and US attention has now turned to the Middle East and Moscow still wants Kyiv to leave the territory.
On Thursday, Zelenskyy said in a post on X that he had “good, important discussions on how to resume negotiations” with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Rubio spoke briefly with Lavrov over dinner on Tuesday, and the two attended the ASEAN Regional Forum on Thursday morning.
Trump also expressed his support for Ukraine’s long-running campaign of Russian drone strikes, saying it would “help defuse” the conflict.
Ukraine has been escalating drone strikes, hitting oil refineries, oil storage facilities and cargo ships at sea, which has led to a shortage of oil in Russia.
At the end of June, heavy Russian missiles and drones killed at least 30 people in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
