US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Thursday on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Manila, and they discussed the war in Ukraine, the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and the situation in the Middle East, in the fourth meeting between the two ministers since 2025.

A brief statement from the US State Department said the two ministers discussed 'US-Russian relations and the need to end the Russian-Ukrainian war,' while Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the meeting lasted about half an hour.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a separate statement that the meeting featured a comprehensive exchange of views on a wide range of bilateral and international issues 'in the context of developing recent high-level contacts.'

Lavrov informed his US counterpart of the current situation along the contact line in the war in Ukraine, and stressed 'the inadmissibility of continuing to pump weapons into Kyiv, and the destabilizing policies pursued by European countries, which are striving to achieve a strategic defeat of Russia,' according to him.

"Russia is ready for a diplomatic solution"

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Lavrov 'once again reaffirmed Russia's readiness for a political and diplomatic solution to the conflict, and its commitment to the proposals put forward by the US side during the summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump in Anchorage, which the Russian president approved.'

It noted that the two ministers discussed a number of regional and international issues, including the situation in the Middle East.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Lavrov and Rubio welcomed the resumption of full communications between the Russian space agency Roscosmos and the US space agency NASA, and also paid attention to 'normalizing the working conditions of the diplomatic missions of Russia and the United States.'

They agreed to continue contacts between the two foreign ministries.

Rubio: Ukraine war hindered cooperation with Moscow

A journalist had asked Rubio on Wednesday whether he intended to pressure Lavrov on Ukraine during their meeting, and Rubio replied: 'I don't know if the expression is to pressure him. We will discuss it,' according to CNN.

He added: 'It is clear that the war in Ukraine has hindered, in many ways, the ability of Russia and the United States to find areas of agreement on other issues, but that does not mean we will not seek to find other potential areas for cooperation.'

He continued: 'But at the same time, we would like to see an end to this war, and therefore we will raise this issue.'

When asked about the role the United States plays in reaching an end to the Russian-Ukrainian war, amid the decline in momentum of talks, Rubio said: 'Perhaps there are now new circumstances that allow this dialogue to take place.'

He added: 'It is one of the matters we will discuss during our conversation.'