U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Saturday that he has discussed a potential meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. According to the U.S. chief diplomat, the two leaders could interact during the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit scheduled for November 18 and 19 in China. Rubio made the remarks on the sidelines of a G20 foreign ministers meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.
The diplomatic development comes amid ongoing military and humanitarian escalations in the conflict. In a humanitarian operation, approximately 700 residents from the front-line city of Olechky were evacuated to northern Ukraine via bus and aircraft through Russia and Belarus. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the U.S. delegation and U.S. First Lady Melania Trump for their mediation. Evacuated residents reported severe living conditions and famine in the war-devastated city.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian leadership pursued separate diplomatic and defense efforts. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted Zelenskyy in Istanbul on Saturday, where the two leaders agreed to establish a Black Sea grain corridor to enhance food security. On the military front, the Ukrainian General Staff claimed responsibility for overnight strikes against the Kamensky defense plant in Russia, which produces rocket fuel and missiles. The strikes reportedly set fire to a warehouse and damaged four solid-propellant production workshops.
At the same time, heavy Russian bombardment disrupted infrastructure across Ukraine, leaving hundreds of thousands of households without power. Approximately 200,000 homes in the Dnipropetrovsk region and 80,000 in the Kyiv region lost electricity after drone strikes targeted a combined heat and power plant.
Addressing military support, Zelenskyy expressed concern over the delivery timeline for U.S. Patriot missiles, warning that delivery could take years. The U.S. government announced a sale of 500 Patriot interceptor missiles to Kyiv valued at more than $2 billion on Friday.
