US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held talks to discuss the next stage of negotiations to end Moscow's war against Ukraine, AFP reports.

According to State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce, the senior diplomats "agreed to continue to work to restore communication between the United States and Russia."

The statement gave no details on when the next round of US-Russian talks, hosted by Saudi Arabia, would begin.

Rubio also provided Lavrov with an update on military activity in the Middle East, where U.S. forces on March 15 delivered deadly strikes on Houthi rebel targets in Yemen.

Despite recent tensions between President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, Kiev has agreed in principle to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire brokered by the United States if Moscow stops its attacks in eastern Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, did not agree to any ceasefire, instead setting conditions that went beyond what was stipulated in the US agreement with Ukraine. | BGNES