By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, Sept 22 (Reuters) – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in New York City on Wednesday morning, the State Department said late on Tuesday.
• Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy met US President Donald Trump on Tuesday at the United Nations’ headquarters in New York.
• Zelenskiy said he discussed with Trump efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, including a potential bilateral ceasefire on energy-related targets.
• Last week, Trump said Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to strike energy targets, but any semblance of a truce disappeared when Russia hit petrol stations in Kyiv the following day and Ukraine bombed a Russian oil refinery.
• Lavrov said last week Russia will not stop fighting in Ukraine while any potential talks take place.
• Lavrov will address the UN General Assembly on Saturday.
• Trump said he would end the war when he took office early last year, but the goal remains elusive 20 months into his presidency. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
• Russian strikes killed eight people in Ukraine’s industrial heartland and other frontline areas, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday as Zelenskiy was meeting Trump.
• The Ukrainian military said on Tuesday it hit a Russian oil refinery in the city of Ufa, more than 1,300 km (800 miles) from the border with Ukraine. It also said it had struck the Kuibyshev oil refinery in the Samara region on the Volga river.
• The Samara regional governor said Ukrainian drones hit civilian targets in the region, killing one person and injuring four.
• Both sides deny targeting civilians.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Christian Schmolinger and Thomas Derpinghaus)
