Rubio and Sybiha huddle in Paris as US-Russia-Ukraine talks open in Abu Dhabi

The US Secretary of State broke the news himself on X on Tuesday. Rubio said he and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha met on the sidelines of the G7 foreign ministers' summit in Paris. Their agenda: ongoing negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war, energy resilience and defense cooperation. Rubio added that Washington stays locked on landing a quote, durable and lasting peace.

The Paris huddle came as delegations from Russia, Ukraine and the US sat down together in Abu Dhabi, Russian outlet Ria Novosti reported. According to the report, it's the first time the three have met in that format since February, and European Union representatives are in the room too.

Moscow's read on the agenda is security, including a wider post-war regional framework. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the teams will push for a preliminary agreement on key issues, one that could later serve as the basis for a peace settlement, according to Russia.

The war kept raging while the diplomats talked. Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces intercepted and destroyed 155 Ukrainian drones overnight and listed the regions involved, from Novgorod and Bryansk to Krasnodar Krai and Crimea. Ukraine's military said it downed 135 Russian drones, including 70 Shahed-type jet-powered ones, after Russia launched 162 drones and an Iskander-M ballistic missile.