Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Thursday in Kuala Lumpur to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine, marking their second in-person meeting this year.
“It was a frank conversation. It was an important one,” Rubio said of the talks, which took place on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers’ summit. He said he conveyed what President Trump has stated publicly—that more flexibility is needed from Russia to help bring the conflict to an end.
Rubio said he and Lavrov exchanged ideas, including “a new or a different approach” from the Russian side, which he plans to share with Trump upon his return. “We need to see a roadmap moving forward about how this conflict can conclude,” he said.
On Wednesday, Trump’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg met with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Rome during a conference of Ukraine-supporting nations.
