Sergey Lavrov says "unacceptable to continue supplying weapons" to Kyiv regime in Manila meeting

On the sidelines of an ASEAN gathering in Manila, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a roughly half-hour discussion Thursday, their first face-to-face since the Ukraine war entered its third year. According to Moscow’s foreign ministry, Lavrov told Rubio that Russia remains willing to pursue a political settlement and reiterated support for terms previously raised by Presidents Trump and Putin during their August 2025 Alaska meeting. The minister also reportedly declared that continued arms deliveries to Ukraine’s government are unacceptable and condemned what he described as European efforts to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. The U.S. State Department confirmed the pair addressed bilateral ties and the need to end the conflict. Separately, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had spoken with American envoys to revive stalled peace talks.