Russia’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov and US counterpart Marco Rubio discussed preparations for a coming summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in a call on Monday, both sides said.
Rubio “emphasised the importance of upcoming engagements as an opportunity for Moscow and Washington to collaborate on advancing a durable resolution of the Russia-Ukraine war”, Tommy Pigott, principal deputy spokesman for the US State Department, said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier that he was ready to join if invited, but neither Moscow nor Washington mentioned Zelensky in their statements.
The Kremlin said earlier it had “no details” about whether Zelensky would attend.
Diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s three-and-a-half-year invasion have stalled since Trump and Putin met for peace talks in Alaska in August.
The two announced last week that they would meet in Budapest for a second round of talks, but it was not clear whether Zelensky – who was shut out from the previous meeting – would attend.
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