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Rubio, Lavrov discuss further steps toward Ukrainian settlement — Department of State

According to the US Department of State, the phone call was initiated by the Russian side

WASHINGTON, April 28. /TASS/. Further steps towards settling the Ukrainian crisis were the focus of a phone call between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the US Department of State said in a statement.

"Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke yesterday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at Lavrov’s request. After Special Envoy Witkoff’s April 25 visit to Moscow, the Secretary underscored to his Russian counterpart the next steps in Russia-Ukraine peace talks and the need to end the war now," the statement reads. "The United States is serious about facilitating an end to this senseless war."

The Russian foreign ministry said earlier in the day that during their phone call the two top diplomats highlighted the importance of strengthening conditions to launch talks on achieving peace in Ukraine. According to Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov, the Russian leader is ready to resume the negotiating process with Ukraine without any preliminary conditions.

On April 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin held his fourth meeting with visiting US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff. After the meeting, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said their conversation, which lasted three hours, was "constructive and quite useful.".

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