Two related news:
1. The call between Rubio and Lavrov, in which they were supposed to prepare the topics of discussion for the Budapest Trump-Putin meeting, did not go well:
"A source familiar with the matter told CNN, though, that officials felt after the Rubio-Lavrov call that the Russian position has not evolved enough beyond its maximalist stance. For now, the source said, Rubio is not likely to recommend the Putin-Trump meeting move forward next week, but Rubio and Lavrov could speak again this week."
this was followed by the White House announcing that: "there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future."
2. The
Ukrainian General Staff confirmed this evening's cruise missile attack on targets
within Russia, which included the use of Anglo-French Storm Shadow cruise missiles.
We can speculate whether the US gave the green light on Storm Shadows to increase pressure on Russia, or UK/France gave the green light without the US to increase pressure on Trump for Tomahawks and concrete actions, but I think the UK/France would have consulted with the US before giving the green light.
