What did Marco Rubio say about ending the Russia-Ukraine war?

Marco Rubio said Ukraine and Russia should focus on ending the war because the United States sees no good outcome from the conflict and believes it carries a real risk of escalation and spread into another country.

Has a Trump-Putin-Xi meeting to discuss Ukraine been finalized?

No. Rubio said talks about a meeting involving Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping had taken place, but he did not know whether the meeting had been finalized.

What happened in Kyiv during the latest Russian air strike?

A Russian air strike overnight killed a woman in Kyiv, struck a subway station and damaged a 25-story residential building. The attack occurred as Washington continued trying to mediate an end to the war.

Rubio says Ukraine and Russia should be focused on ending the war

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Summary

Marco Rubio said in Samarkand on Monday that Ukraine and Russia should focus on ending their war. He said a possible meeting involving Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping had been discussed but not finalized. Rubio warned that the conflict could escalate or spread to another country, while a Russian air strike killed a woman in Kyiv and damaged civilian infrastructure.

Key Facts

Rubio visited Uzbekistan to meet officials from the C5+1 grouping, which includes the United States, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
The war in Ukraine has lasted four years, according to Rubio’s remarks.
Rubio said the conflict could spread through incidents involving sabotage attacks or drones affected by electronic warfare.
The Russian strike hit a subway station and damaged a 25-story residential building in Kyiv.
Trump has pursued US mediation efforts, a diesel import deal with Russia and sanctions waivers that he said should keep Moscow negotiating, moves criticized by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

By Reuters

Published Oct 19, 2026 3:37 pm KST

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, attends a meeting with Uzbekistan's Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov at the Congress Center, Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Oct. 1. AFP-Yonhap

SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan — Ukraine and Russia should be focused on ending the war between them, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on his visit to Uzbekistan on Monday.

Asked about a possible meeting of US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to negotiate an end to the four-year-old Ukraine conflict, Rubio said: "There's been talks of a meeting. I don't know whether it's been finalized, but the president has been clear. He'd like the war in Ukraine and Russia to end."

Rubio landed in Samarkand on Sunday night to meet top officials of the C5+1 grouping that brings together the United States and the Muslim-majority post-Soviet states of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

Trump hosted C5 leaders at the White House last November.

"We see nothing good coming from this war," Rubio said. "We see a lot of downside to it, including the very real risk of escalation and spread of this thing... into another country because of a failed sabotage attack, because of drones that are hit with electronic warfare and they wander into a neighbouring country."

The US has been trying to mediate a peace deal to bring the Ukraine war to an end and Trump has since clinched a diesel import deal with Russia and waived some sanctions on Moscow, which he said should keep the Kremlin at the negotiating table.

The moves were criticized by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. A fresh Russian air strike killed a woman in Ukraine's Kyiv overnight while also hitting a subway station and damaging a 25-story residential building.

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