ISTANBUL

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha that Washington is committed to ending the war in Ukraine, nearly three years into a Russian war on its territory, the State Department said Saturday.

During a phone call on Friday, Rubio underlined President Donald Trump's readiness to take action to end the war in the region, “including through effective action in the United Nations Security Council.”

The call came amid high tensions, including Trump’s recent criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a “dictator” and Zelenskyy’s retort that Trump lives in a Russian “space of disinformation.”

It also follows US-Russia talks in the Saudi capital Riyadh and ongoing negotiations over a proposed minerals deal between the US and Ukraine.