"The [Russian] minister and the [US] Secretary of State agreed to continue their work with both sides in the interest of a peaceful settlement [of the conflict is southeastern Ukraine]," the statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The conversation primarily focused on the situation in Ukraine, according to the statement. Lavrov reiterated the need for the effective implementation of the Minsk agreements by Kiev authorities, calling for an end to "armed provocations" and a start of a direct dialogue between Kiev and Donbass, the statement said.
Ukraine's southeast has been engulfed in a conflict beginning April 2014, when Kiev launched a military operation to suppress local militias dissatisfied with the country’s new government that came to power following the February 2014 coup.
In February 2015, Kiev and the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk signed a ceasefire deal in the Belarusian capital, Minsk. However, both sides have since repeatedly accused each other of violating the truce.
Earlier in August, the leaders of Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine signed an agreement to pull back weapons with the caliber less than 100mm from the line of contact in Donbass.
However, a source in the talks on the weaponry withdrawal said Kiev had refused to withdraw weaponry from four specific areas, while militias demanded the withdrawal along the entire contact line.
