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Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed on Thursday that he and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov discussed “new” and “different” strategies for concluding the over three-and-a-half-year war in Ukraine amidst President Donald Trump’s growing frustration.
Following his almost hour-long discussion with Lavrov at the ASEAN conference in Malaysia, Rubio remarked to reporters, “I think it’s a new and a different approach.” He further added, “I wouldn’t characterize it as something that guarantees a peace, but it’s a concept that I’ll take back to the president.”
While Rubio refrained from providing specifics on the new plan, it was mentioned during a time when Trump is considering imposing “biting” sanctions against Russia and increasing military support to Ukraine. This comes in the wake of his recent assertion that he did not approve the Pentagon’s limited arms pause to Kyiv, which was enacted earlier this month.
President Donald Trump is shown meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the first day of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan on June 28, 2019 during Trump’s first term. (Kremlin Press Office / Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
“There’s been some humanitarian exchanges made, obviously…our goal here is to end this war,” he said, adding that he believes Trump “deserves tremendous credit” for holding calls with Putin when his predecessor and other world leaders opted not to.
Rubio said he wouldn’t characterize the discussion or Lavrov’s response to it, but said, “We need to see a roadmap moving forward about how this conflict can conclude. And then we shared some ideas about what that might look like.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio takes part in a media briefing during the 58th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers’ meeting and related meetings at the Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur on July 10, 2025. (MANDEL NGAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
“We’re going to continue to stay involved where we see opportunities to make a difference,” he added.
The meeting was the second time Rubio and Lavrov had encountered each other since the secretary took up the top job.
