Rubio: We want the war in Ukraine to end

On the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Manila, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a meeting. The discussions covered the war in Ukraine as well as a wide range of bilateral and international issues.

According to the Russian diplomatic service, Lavrov confirmed Russia's readiness for a political-diplomatic settlement of the conflict and reiterated commitment to the proposals put forward during the meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Anchorage. Earlier, Bloomberg reported that the Russian side interpreted these proposals as Ukraine giving up Donbas in exchange for the return of occupied parts of Sumy and Kharkiv regions. Washington denied the existence of such agreements.

Lavrov emphasized that further U.S. arms supplies to Kyiv increase tension and delay the end of the war. Rubio responded that U.S. policy on Ukraine remains unchanged. He noted that the U.S. sells weapons through the PURL initiative under NATO and that this policy has not changed. "We want a peaceful agreement. We want the war to end. We are ready to play any positive role to bring it about, but that will require something that both Russia and Ukraine can agree on," Rubio said.

Rubio added that an agreement will not be reached at a press conference or in a single meeting in the Philippines; it will take a lot of work. Previous efforts have been unsuccessful, but if conditions and factors change, the U.S. is ready to act. He also stated that President Trump considers the war stupid and senseless, and his primary concern is that people stop dying, that Ukraine can live in peace, that Ukrainians can return and rebuild, and that young Russians do not die at a rate of 5,000 per week on the battlefield. If the U.S. can play a role in ending the war, it will use its power and influence to do so.