A rare direct encounter

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met on Thursday in Manila, on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit. The half-hour conversation, initiated by the United States, was one of the few direct contacts between the two countries' top diplomats since Donald Trump returned to the presidency. A State Department spokesperson said the talks covered "US-Russia relations and the need to end the Russian-Ukrainian war." The meeting had been announced a day earlier, on Wednesday.

Moscow's demands and accusations

According to a Russian foreign ministry readout, Lavrov presented the "real situation on the front line" and called further Western arms deliveries to Ukraine "unacceptable." He also attacked what he described as the "destabilizing" policy of European states that, in Moscow's view, are still seeking Russia's "strategic defeat."

“It is unacceptable to continue arming the regime in Kyiv.”

Lavrov insisted that Russia is ready for a political-diplomatic settlement based on the proposals discussed by Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at their summit in Alaska in August 2025. The Russian foreign ministry later stated that Lavrov "confirmed Russia's readiness for a political and diplomatic resolution of the conflict and its commitment to the proposals presented by the American side during the meeting of Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Anchorage, to which the Russian leader agreed."

Washington's unchanged stance

At a press briefing, Rubio made clear that the US position on military aid to Ukraine "remains unchanged." He noted that weapons are being supplied to Kyiv through NATO under the PURL initiative.

“We want a peace agreement, we want to end the war. We are ready to play any positive role we can to achieve that.”

Rubio stressed that diplomacy requires time and commitment from both sides. He highlighted the human cost, saying that up to 5,000 Russian soldiers are dying at the front each week. Echoing President Trump, he called the conflict a "stupid, senseless war" and said the priority is to stop the killing and allow Ukrainians to return home and rebuild. He added that Washington remains in regular contact with Kyiv, noting that "we have probably met with Ukrainians much more often than with the Russian side."

Other agenda items

Beyond Ukraine, the two diplomats discussed the situation in the Persian Gulf and the normalization of diplomatic missions. The Russian statement also expressed satisfaction with the resumption of contacts between Roscosmos and NASA, and both sides agreed on the need to continue working-level bilateral contacts.

Stalled diplomacy and Russia's war aims

The Manila encounter comes nearly four and a half years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peace negotiations have long been deadlocked. The last trilateral talks involving the US, Russia, and Ukraine took place in Geneva in mid-February 2026. In May 2026, Washington suspended its mediation efforts. Since then, the Kremlin has sought to bring the Americans back to the table; Putin reportedly asked Trump twice by phone to send envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow, but those visits did not materialize.

Meanwhile, Russian officials have repeatedly stated that Moscow's war aims remain unchanged. According to recent leaks reported by Reuters and Bloomberg, Putin is determined to seize the entire Ukrainian Donbas by the end of the year and, as "punishment" for Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory, intends to occupy additional Ukrainian lands, ruling out any negotiations on their return. The brief duration of the Rubio-Lavrov meeting (just 30 to 35 minutes) suggests the two sides largely restated their known positions without a breakthrough.