Russia cautioned the United States on Thursday, July 23rd against continuing arms deliveries to Ukraine. The message was delivered during talks between Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Manila.
Moscow said Lavrov told Rubio it was “unacceptable” to keep supplying weapons to the Kyiv government, while also criticising what it called a destabilising European policy aimed at inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Russia.
The meeting, held during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ministerial summit, was the first between the two men since September 2025. Washington said the pair discussed U.S.-Russia relations and the need to end the war in Ukraine, while Moscow said Lavrov reiterated that Russia remained ready for a political and diplomatic settlement.
The talks came as Kyiv seeks to revive stalled diplomacy and as the conflict intensifies on the battlefield. President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had spoken with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner about bringing peace closer, while President Donald Trump has voiced support for Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure.
Moscow and Kyiv have both stepped up attacks on each other’s energy systems in recent months, deepening the war’s economic and social toll. Russia has continued missile strikes on Ukraine’s power grid, while Ukraine has expanded drone attacks on Russian oil and fuel facilities, adding pressure on both sides as the war enters its fifth year.
