U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is due to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in New York on Wednesday, as Washington and Moscow continue diplomatic contacts over the war
in Ukraine.
The meeting, confirmed by the U.S. State Department late Tuesday, is scheduled to take place in the morning in New York, where both officials are attending the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The talks come at a critical moment for efforts to establish even limited agreements between Russia and Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met U.S. President Donald Trump at the UN on Tuesday, with discussions reportedly focusing on ways to halt the fighting and on a possible understanding to prevent attacks against energy infrastructure.
Trump said last week that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to refrain from striking energy facilities. However, the arrangement appeared to break down almost immediately. Russian forces subsequently struck petrol stations in Kyiv, while Ukraine carried out an attack on a Russian oil refinery.
The Rubio-Lavrov meeting will therefore take place against a backdrop of continuing military operations and uncertainty over prospects for broader negotiations.
Lavrov said last week that Russia would continue its military campaign in Ukraine even as diplomatic discussions proceed. He is also scheduled to address the UN General Assembly on Saturday.
Trump has repeatedly said that ending the war is a major objective of his administration. Nearly 20 months into his presidency, however, the conflict remains unresolved, with Russian and Ukrainian forces continuing to conduct strikes deep behind each other's lines.
Fresh attacks underscored the difficulties facing diplomacy. Ukrainian officials said Russian strikes on Tuesday killed eight people in Ukraine's industrial regions and other areas near the front line, while Ukrainian forces reported attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.
Ukraine's military said it struck an oil refinery in Ufa, more than 1,300 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, as well as the Kuibyshev refinery in Russia's Samara region. Russian regional authorities said Ukrainian drones had also hit civilian targets in Samara, killing one person and injuring four.
Both Moscow and Kyiv deny deliberately targeting civilians.
The meeting between Rubio and Lavrov could provide an opportunity for the two sides to assess the prospects for further diplomatic engagement, particularly around limited ceasefire arrangements. However, the continuing attacks and sharply different positions on the war underline the obstacles to reaching a wider settlement. Photo by A.Savin, Wikimedia commons.
