Trump said earlier this month the war in Ukraine was "very close" to ending, and Rubio confirmed Friday that U.S.-led peace talks had stopped.
Then on Monday, Russia called Rubio to tell him to get Americans out of Kyiv.
In Monday's call, Lavrov "officially informed" Washington that Russia would target Ukrainian military facilities and what Moscow calls "decision-making centers," with those sites spread across Kyiv.
That's why Russia told foreign citizens and diplomats to leave the city. The State Department confirmed the call, with spokesperson Tommy Pigott saying the two discussed the war, U.S.-Russia relations, and Iran.
Kyiv took one of the biggest missile barrages of the entire war over the weekend, and the new warning suggests Russia plans more of the same.
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Last year, the U.S. led talks between Russia and Ukraine, which stalled over the same issue that has blocked every round before - how much Ukrainian territory Russia gets to keep.
Rubio's Friday comments were blunt. The U.S. is open to overseeing more talks if they go somewhere, but "there are no such talks occurring at this time," and he added that no one else in the world can run this kind of negotiation.
Trump campaigned on ending the war in a day, but he's now more than a year into his second term.
Markets are watching this through the energy and defense lens. Renewed strikes on Ukraine tend to push oil higher and weigh on European stocks, especially after a weekend that already rattled NATO members.
Defense contractors usually catch a bid when peace talks collapse - we broke down a few of the names smart money is tracking in our defense stocks rundown.
European gas prices are also worth watching, since any direct hit on Ukrainian energy infrastructure has historically rippled into the rest of the continent within days.
The State Department has not formally told Americans to evacuate Kyiv, but Russia's warning is the loudest signal in months that strikes are about to escalate.
Diplomacy was already thin, and now it's gone.
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