As Russia ramped up its assault on Ukraine, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers’ summit in Malaysia on Thursday. The high-stakes meeting marked their second face-to-face encounter, taking place against the backdrop of renewed tensions between Washington and Moscow.
The roughly 50-minute meeting came at a delicate moment. President Donald Trump, who returned to the White House earlier this year pledging to swiftly end the war in Ukraine, has grown increasingly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin as the conflict drags into its third year.
Meanwhile, Russia unleashed a fresh wave of aerial attacks on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, overnight. Ukrainian officials reported that Moscow fired 18 missiles and launched approximately 400 drones, forcing thousands of civilians to seek shelter in bunkers.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned the assault, which followed what Ukraine described as Russia’s largest drone barrage to date, involving over 700 unmanned aircraft. Moscow has yet to comment on the latest strikes.
Trump, whose early outreach to Moscow raised hopes of a negotiated settlement, has recently taken a harder line. Just days after authorizing the resumption of defensive weapons shipments to Ukraine, he dismissed Putin’s recent peace overtures as “meaningless.” The President has also floated support for a sweeping sanctions bill targeting Russia’s economy, which could impose tariffs of up to 500% on countries purchasing Russian oil, gas, uranium, and other key exports.
Rubio’s meeting with Lavrov followed his engagements with ASEAN leaders during his first visit to Asia as Secretary of State. The two diplomats last met in February in Saudi Arabia, as part of Trump’s broader effort to rebuild diplomatic channels and explore options for ending the war.
