U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to the G20 leaders’ summit in Miami in December, presenting the gathering as a chance for Putin to engage not only with U.S. President Donald Trump but also with other world leaders.
Rubio’s remarks were the first public confirmation that the United States had invited Putin to the leaders-level G20 meeting. He stressed, however, that no Trump-Putin face-to-face meeting has been agreed. According to Rubio, such a meeting would be more useful if it were tied to a clearly defined outcome.
Before the Rubio-Lavrov talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said any Trump-Putin summit would require preparatory work. Rubio also said Trump’s willingness to engage even with adversaries was a key reason behind the invitation.
The comments came as Washington tries to persuade Moscow and Kyiv to consider a limited ceasefire covering strikes on energy infrastructure and possibly grain-related targets. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had earlier called for an end to attacks on energy facilities and, after meeting Trump in New York on September 22, said Kyiv was ready to stop such strikes if Russia did the same.
Reuters reported that an earlier understanding on energy-related targets quickly collapsed after attacks resumed. Rubio said the idea has been discussed in recent U.S. contacts with both sides, including through U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential adviser Jared Kushner.
At the same time, Rubio underlined that an energy truce would not amount to a peace deal. In his words, it “doesn’t solve the war,” but it could reduce some of the conflict’s consequences and potentially create a platform for broader negotiations.
Later in the day, speaking at a UN Security Council meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia would not halt military operations while negotiations were under way, regardless of the format. He also accused Europe of trying to buy time to rearm Kyiv.
Rubio acknowledged that the Russian and Ukrainian energy targets serve different purposes. He said attacks on the Russian side mainly target refineries and oil and gas facilities, while for Ukraine the issue is the electricity grid, which directly affects power supply and basic services. That difference, he said, makes any deal harder to reach but still worth pursuing.
In recent weeks, Kyiv has stepped up attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, while Russia has continued strikes on Ukraine’s energy system. Rubio gave few details about his meeting with Lavrov and announced no agreement. The U.S. State Department said the two sides discussed the war in Ukraine and U.S.-Russian relations.
Rubio also warned that the conflict could spill beyond Ukraine through sabotage, a hybrid attack, or an incident involving military forces. One of Washington’s concerns, he said, is that the war could widen and spread to other areas.
