‘Stop Shooting, Sit Down and Sign a Deal’ – Rubio and Lavrov Discuss Ukraine

April 29 ------ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with his Russian counterpart at Sergei Lavrov’s request, the State Department said. “After [US] Special Envoy [Steve] 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,” State spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a readout of the call. “The United States is serious about facilitating an end to this senseless war,” she added without offering further details.

Sunday’s exchange was Rubio’s second call with Lavrov in less than two weeks, a move that Russia tends to portray as its normalization with the Trump administration. “The parties continued a fruitful exchange of views on the key aspects of Russia-US political dialogue, which has significantly intensified recently,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in its own readout of the Sunday call without mentioning Russia’s war in Ukraine. “The top Russian and US diplomats agreed to maintain contact at all levels,” it reads. Rubio’s latest call with Lavrov also came as US President Donald Trump urged Russia’s Vladimir Putin to “stop shooting, sit down and sign a deal.”

The Kremlin said on Monday it was ready to begin peace talks with Ukraine without preconditions, however, Lavrov later backpedalled Moscow’s messages by reiterating previous Russian demands for Ukraine’s neutral status and non-accession to NATO, and calling international recognition of the annexed Ukrainian regions as part of Russia “imperative.”

Source: kyivpost.com