Rubio says ending war in Ukraine needs ‘new ideas,’ previous proposals unacceptable to Kyiv

Ending the war between Russia and Ukraine will require “new ideas,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

He said the proposals discussed previously were “not acceptable to Ukraine at the time. “And I don’t think it’d be acceptable to them [now] either; in fact, probably less acceptable to them, he said. Rubio did not specify which proposals he meant.

“If, when peace comes, it’ll be because of some new idea and some new concepts, and we’re prepared to offer some of those in the right setting and form if the opportunity presents itself and the conditions are right. We’re prepared to play that role in a positive way,” Rubio said.

He added that President Donald Trump’s priority is “that people stop dying.” “He thinks it’s a stupid war,” Rubio said. “And if we can play a role in bringing it to an end, we’re going to use the power and influence of the United States to do so. And we’re prepared to do that if the opportunity presents itself.”

Lavrov and Rubio met in Manila, the Philippines, on July 23, in a meeting that lasted 35 minutes.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry stated after the meeting that Lavrov briefed Rubio on “the real situation along the line of contact” and “stressed the unacceptability of continuing to pump weapons into the Kyiv regime.”

Lavrov “confirmed the Russian side’s readiness for a political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict,” saying Moscow remains committed to the proposals the American side put forward at the Anchorage summit.

Bloomberg earlier reported that Russia no longer plans to return part of the occupied territories to Ukraine as part of any deal to end the war. According to the outlet’s sources, Vladimir Putin has abandoned territorial concessions altogether because the Kremlin now considers the informal agreements reached at the Anchorage summit between the Russian and U.S. presidents to have collapsed.