Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday that he was ready to meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio but that Russia would not abandon its core conditions for ending the Ukraine war.

US President Donald Trump's efforts to broker an end to the Ukraine war, the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two, have so far failed and he last month abruptly cancelled a planned summit with President Vladimir Putin in Budapest.

The Kremlin on Friday dismissed Western media reports that Lavrov had fallen out of favour with Putin when the summit plans collapsed after Lavrov's ministry sent a message indicating Moscow was not prepared to yield on its demands over Ukraine.

'READY TO HOLD FACE-TO-FACE MEETINGS'

"Secretary of State Marco Rubio and I understand the need for regular com

See Full Page