US invites Putin to G20 as Ukraine war continues

The American president invited his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to the G20 summit in December in the United States, while Washington is struggling to convince the Russians and Ukrainians to end the war, American Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday. Moscow has not yet responded to the invitation, but the head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov warned that Russia would “not pause” in its war against Ukraine before the UN Security Council. “A sentence that sums it all up,” retorted his Ukrainian counterpart Andriï Sybiga.

“To resolve problems, you have to meet the people with whom you disagree or those with whom you may have differences; This is why we invited President Putin to the G20,” Marco Rubio had earlier justified during a press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. “We think this is an opportunity for him to engage not only with the president, but also with other world leaders,” he added, saying “we hope he will accept this invitation.”

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The head of American diplomacy spoke shortly after his meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in a large hotel in New York, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is due to speak at the UN. He also urged Moscow and kyiv to reach an energy ceasefire, saying the United States was working on it. Such a moratorium would not end the war in Ukraine, he said, but could serve as a “platform” for a broader agreement. “Both sides have expressed interest in a limited ceasefire involving energy,” according to Mr. Rubio. “Obviously it’s not something easy but both parties have said they’re interested.”

Black Sea

New Russian attacks in Ukraine against civilian transport infrastructure, targeting gas stations, maritime shipping and rail on Wednesday, left several people dead, authorities said. kyiv and Washington want Russia's war against Ukraine to end "before winter", according to a statement from the Ukrainian president published Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. “Both the United States and Ukraine want to see this absurd war led by Russia end before winter,” writes Volodymyr Zelensky, who specifies that he has discussed “de-escalation measures likely to open the way to diplomacy” with President Donald Trump.

During a press conference, the Ukrainian leader said he had informed the American president of his intention to stop strikes on Russian energy sites on the condition that Moscow does the same with its massive strikes in Ukraine. With the American president, “we talked about an energy moratorium,” the Ukrainian president said on Tuesday. The last meeting between the American and Russian presidents, who spoke multiple times by telephone, dates back to the summit in Alaska in 2025.

Volodymyr Zelensky and Sergei Lavrov are both present at the UN on Wednesday. In a joint declaration on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, 51 countries including France, the United Kingdom, Japan and Canada reaffirmed their support for Ukraine against Russia. “We are particularly concerned about the attacks in the Black Sea,” they also stressed, believing that Russia was trying to hinder Ukrainian agricultural exports, “thus threatening global food security.”