US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has described Russia’s war in Ukraine as a “dangerous stalemate”, saying Washington remains committed to securing a permanent, fair and lasting negotiated settlement.
Speaking to reporters during a visit to Portugal, Mr Rubio said the United States would continue efforts to bring the conflict to an end, but warned that progress would be needed for the process to continue.
“We’d love to see a negotiated settlement to this war that is permanent, enduring and fair. And that’s what we’re committed to continuing to do,” he said.
Donald Trump’s administration has sought to revive talks in recent weeks. Ukrainian negotiators are due to visit the United States for discussions on Friday and Saturday.
Mr Rubio warned that further escalation could take the conflict beyond Ukraine and Russia. He said it could develop into a sabotage campaign in neighbouring Nato member states or become “a much broader and far more dangerous regional conflict”.
“This war needs to end in a negotiated settlement. The sooner, the better,” Mr Rubio said. “The United States stands ready to facilitate that. We have tried. We will continue to try. But we’re also not going to invest in pointless processes if we can’t make progress.”
Drone attacks spread to critical infrastructure
Drone strikes by Russia and Ukraine have increasingly reached targets across the economy this year, including energy facilities, refineries, ports and vessels carrying oil and grain.
The latest reported damage involved a data centre operated by Russian technology and artificial intelligence company Yandex. The firm said a Ukrainian drone attack on its Sasovo site caused a fire and forced operations to be suspended.
Yandex said the scale of the damage was still being assessed and that it could not yet confirm whether the equipment could be restored. Some of its services were unavailable while specialist teams examined the site.
The Sasovo facility is one of Yandex’s five large data centres and houses two of the company’s three supercomputers, which are used to develop its artificial intelligence model. Yandex has not said whether the supercomputers were damaged.
