Senior American and Russian officials and top diplomats, are set to hold talks on negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine, in what would be the most significant meeting between the sides since Moscow's full-scale invasion of its neighbour nearly three years ago.
The talks, scheduled for Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, mark another pivotal step by the Trump administration to reverse US policy on isolating Russia, and are meant to pave the way for a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The recent US diplomatic blitz on the war has sent Kyiv and key allies scrambling to ensure a seat at the table amid concerns that Washington and Moscow could press ahead with a deal that won't be favourable to them.
France called an emergency meeting of European Union countries and the UK on Monday to decide how to respond.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov set off for the Saudi capital on Monday, according to Russian state TV.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will meet the Russian delegation, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.
Ukraine will not participate.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the talks will be primarily focused on “restoring the entire range of US-Russian relations, as well as preparing possible talks on the Ukrainian settlement and organising a meeting of the two presidents".
Bruce said the meeting is aimed at determining how serious the Russians are about wanting peace and whether detailed negotiations can be started.
“I think the goal, obviously, for everyone is to determine if this is something that can move forward,” she told reporters travelling with Rubio in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Bruce said that even though Ukraine would not be at the table for Tuesday’s talks, actual peace negotiations would not take place with Ukraine’s involvement.
Kyiv's participation in any peace talks was a bedrock of US policy under Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden.
Speaking on Fox News, Witkoff said he and Waltz will be “having meetings at the direction of the president,” and hope to make “some really good progress with regard to Russia-Ukraine.”
Witkoff didn’t directly respond to a question about whether Ukraine would have to give up a “significant portion” of its territory as part of any negotiated settlement.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that NATO membership for Ukraine was unrealistic and suggested Kyiv should abandon hopes of winning all its territory back from Russia — two key items on Putin's wish list.
Tuesday's talks follow a telephone call between Trump and Putin in which the American president said they “agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately.”
After the call, Trump phoned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to inform him about their conversation.
Trump on Sunday told reporters that Zelenskiy “will be involved” but did not elaborate.
The Ukrainian president said on Monday his country had not been invited to the upcoming talks and won’t accept the outcome if Kyiv doesn’t take part.
The US-Russia talks would “yield no results,” given the absence of any Ukrainian officials, Zelenskiy said on a conference call with journalists from the United Arab Emirates.
