US state secretary Marco Rubio, Russia’s Sergei Lavrov discuss ‘subsequent steps’ to end Ukraine conflict

US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Russia’s overseas minister Sergei Lavrov

United States secretary of state Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov held talks on Saturday and mentioned the ‘subsequent steps’ to end the struggle in Ukraine, in accordance to the US Department of State.
“Secretary Rubio and foreign minister Lavrov discussed next steps to follow up on recent meetings in Saudi Arabia and agreed to continue working towards restoring communication between the United States and Russia,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce stated in a press release.
Bruce added that Rubio additionally knowledgeable Lavrov of America’s navy deterrence operations in opposition to the Iran-backed Houthis.
“The secretary emphasized that continued Houthi attacks on US military and commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea will not be tolerated,” she said.
While additional Saudi-hosted US-Russia talks stay unscheduled, Rubio and Lavrov agreed to strengthen bilateral communications, information company AFP reported.

Ukraine’s conditional acceptance of ceasefire proposal

Despite current tensions between US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine has accepted, albeit conditionally, a US-mediated 30-day ceasefire proposal, contingent on Moscow ceasing hostilities in jap Ukraine. However, Russian President Putin has not accepted these phrases, as a substitute proposing circumstances past the US-Ukraine settlement scope.
Trump, since his January return to workplace, has prioritised ending the three-year conflict, notably bettering relations with Putin.

‘Putin would finally negotiate’

Meanwhile, following a digital London summit, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged 26 world leaders to ‘improve’ Ukraine’s place, ‘safeguard’ potential ceasefires, and maintain stress on Moscow. Starmer recommended Putin would finally negotiate, and criticised Russia’s delays citing necessities for ‘in depth evaluation’ earlier than implementing the proposed truce.
Both Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron expressed willingness to deploy troops in Ukraine, regardless of Moscow’s continued opposition to overseas peacekeepers.
The London summit was held days after navy officers from round 30 nations convened in Paris on March 11 to discuss peacekeeping operations, with a follow-up assembly scheduled for Thursday within the UK.
Recent developments embody Russian territorial beneficial properties within the Kursk area, Ukrainian drone strikes in Belgorod affecting three civilians, and harm to Ukrainian buildings in Chernihiv.