Rubio and Lavrov hold 35-minute Manila meeting; US says Anchorage peace framework has failed

A brief encounter in Manila

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met on Thursday on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers' gathering in the Philippine capital. The meeting, initiated by Washington, lasted just 35 minutes according to Russian media and multiple Western reports, though the state-controlled Tass agency claimed it ran for more than an hour and a half. It was the first face-to-face between the two top diplomats since at least September 2025, and the fourth overall since Rubio took office. Their previous encounter was in Malaysia in July 2025, also on the margins of an ASEAN event.

Anchorage framework declared dead

After the talks, Rubio told journalists the encounter was "good and open" but delivered a blunt assessment of the peace process that began with the Trump-Putin summit in Anchorage, Alaska, in August 2025. "You cannot sign a peace treaty if both sides do not agree. The Ukrainians did not agree, so these attempts did not work. We need new proposals and new ideas," he said. Rubio added that the conditions discussed in Anchorage had become "probably even less acceptable" for Ukraine given military developments over the past months. It was the first time Washington had so explicitly acknowledged the collapse of that diplomatic track.

You cannot sign a peace treaty if both sides do not agree. The Ukrainians did not agree, so these attempts did not work. We need new proposals and new ideas.

Russia's unchanged position

Moscow's readout struck a different tone. The Russian foreign ministry said Lavrov had briefed Rubio on the "actual situation at the front" and called further Western arms deliveries to Ukraine "unacceptable". Lavrov also accused European countries of pursuing a "destabilising policy" aimed at inflicting a "strategic defeat" on Russia. At the same time, he reiterated Russia's readiness for a "political-diplomatic solution", but only on the basis of the understandings reached in Anchorage. Those understandings, never made public, are widely believed to include a demand that Ukraine cede control of the Donbass region, a condition President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly rejected. Notably, neither the Kremlin nor the foreign ministry readouts mentioned the recent US decision to allow Ukraine to produce Patriot air defence missiles.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later dampened expectations. "In this situation I would not show excessive optimism. Contacts are indeed taking place, and that is always positive. But it is not appropriate to speak of a new dynamic or a new acceleration," he said.

In this situation I would not show excessive optimism. Contacts are indeed taking place, and that is always positive. But it is not appropriate to speak of a new dynamic or a new acceleration.

Broader agenda and space cooperation

Beyond Ukraine, the two ministers discussed the situation in the Middle East, where Russia, as an ally of Iran, has repeatedly criticised US strikes on the Islamic Republic. No details were disclosed. Lavrov welcomed the resumption of full contacts between the two countries' space agencies, which jointly operate the International Space Station. Both sides agreed to continue their dialogue, and the Kremlin said it hoped US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would soon travel to Moscow for further talks.

Overnight strikes add to tensions

Hours before the Manila meeting, Ukrainian drone attacks killed two people in Russian-controlled territory. In Voronezh, a city roughly 500 kilometres south of Moscow, a three-year-old boy died in a fire caused by falling debris from a downed drone, regional governor Alexander Gusew said. A 19-year-old was lightly injured and a warehouse roof was damaged. On the annexed Crimean peninsula, governor Sergej Aksjonow reported one dead and four injured, including two children. Russia's defence ministry said air defences shot down 223 Ukrainian drones overnight.