US, Russian officials to meet in Saudi Arabia to discuss Ukraine war: Report
US and Russian officials plan to meet in Saudi Arabia to discuss peace talks aimed at ending the three-year-long Russia-Ukraine war, reports say.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz, and White House West Asia envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Saudi Arabia.
It was not immediately clear who they would meet from Russia.
Keith Kellogg, US special envoy to Ukraine said Washington, Moscow and Kiev would be involved in talks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, however, said Ukraine was not invited to the talks in Saudi Arabia and Kiev would not engage with Russia before consulting with strategic partners.
Rubio and the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, discussed the situation in Ukraine in a call on Saturday, as well as the removal of “unilateral barriers” set by the previous US administration, according to Moscow.
“The two sides expressed their mutual willingness to interact on pressing international issues, including the settlement around Ukraine,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Moscow said the pair agreed on regular contacts to prepare for a meeting between the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and his US counterpart, Donald Trump.
Trump, who took office on January 20, has repeatedly vowed to swiftly end the Ukraine war
Europe excluded from negotiations
After Trump made separate phone calls to Putin and Zelenskiy on Wednesday, without informing Washington’s European allies, they were alarmed that they would be cut out of any peace process.
Kellogg on Saturday also confirmed that Europe will not participate in the talks.
The exclusion of Europe from the peace talks has created unease among European diplomats.
European politicians see the exclusion as indicative of the power imbalance between the US and Europe.
“If you have to insist you are relevant, it likely means you are not,” one European diplomat said.
In response to years of military and political provocations by the US and Western European countries, Russia began its special military operations in Ukraine in 2022.
Russia has managed to gain control of a fifth of Ukraine and has been slowly advancing in the east for months.
Ukraine’s military, supported by the US and Western European countries grapples with manpower shortages and tries to hold to a chunk of territory in western Russia.
Russia has demanded an end to the West’s military and political provocations on its borders and Ukraine’s permanent neutrality under any peace deal.
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