US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met on Thursday in Manila on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting. The meeting lasted just over half an hour, according to Russian media.

Lavrov “reaffirmed Russia’s readiness for a political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said, adding that he “stressed that it was unacceptable to continue supplying weapons to the Kyiv regime.”

The minister condemned “a destabilizing policy by European countries, which are still seeking to inflict a ‘strategic defeat’ on Russia.” Lavrov also stated Moscow’s commitment to proposals put forward by Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin at their August 2025 meeting in Alaska.

The US State Department offered few details, only saying that Rubio and Lavrov “discussed the US-Russia relationship and the need to end the Russia-Ukraine war.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had “a good, important conversation on how to reinvigorate diplomacy” with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

Trump has voiced support for Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, saying it could “help bring about an end” to the conflict.

Source: www.aljazeera.com