US President Donald Trump's administration said yesterday that it had agreed to hold additional talks with Russia on ending the war in Ukraine after an initial meeting at which Kiev was not present.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the two sides had agreed to form a high-level team to support peace talks and explore "economic and investment opportunities that would arise from a successful end to the conflict in Ukraine," the Guardian reported.
The comments underscored a dramatic shift in approach from Washington, which had been rallying US allies in an effort to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin.
As the four-and-a-half-hour meeting in the Saudi capital got underway, Russia toughened its demands, particularly insisting that it would not tolerate NATO granting membership to Kiev.
It was the first time that US and Russian officials had sat down at the same table to discuss ways to end the conflict. Ukraine said it would not accept any deal imposed on it without its consent, while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated: “Decisions must not be made without Ukraine.”
Even before the talks took place, some European politicians accused the Trump administration of giving concessions to Moscow for free, ruling out Ukraine's NATO membership and saying it was illusory that Kiev believed it could reclaim the 20 percent of its territory now under Russian control.
US National Security Advisor Mike Walz told reporters in Riyadh that the war must end permanently, and that would include negotiations on territory and security guarantees.
Regarding the concerns of Ukraine and Europe, Marco Rubio said that no one is being sidelined, that the European Union must be involved at some point, and that any solution must be acceptable to all parties, Reuters reported.
Moscow is demanding that NATO withdraw a promise made at the 2008 Bucharest summit that Ukraine would join at some point in the future.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he has postponed his visit to Saudi Arabia, which was scheduled for today, until next month. The decision was reportedly made in order not to give “legitimacy” to US-Russian negotiations.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters in Moscow that it was “not enough” for NATO to not admit Ukraine. She said the alliance must go a step further and withdraw the promise made at the 2008 Bucharest summit that Kiev would become a member at some point in the future.
"Otherwise, this problem will continue to poison the atmosphere on the European continent," she said.
Zelensky has persistently sought NATO membership as the only way to guarantee Kiev's sovereignty and independence from its nuclear-armed neighbor.
Reuters recalls that in 1994, Ukraine agreed to give up its Soviet-era nuclear weapons in exchange for guarantees of independence and sovereignty within its existing borders from Russia, the United States and Great Britain.
While European countries are considering sending peacekeepers to support any peace deal on Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said in Riyadh that Moscow would not accept the deployment of NATO troops, regardless of whose flag they operate under.
Lavrov and Zakharova's comments signal that Russia will continue to insist on further concessions during the talks, Reuters estimates. In yesterday's introductory meeting, Lavrov and Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, who together have 34 years of experience in their current positions, negotiated with three Trump administration officials who have just begun their terms.
Both sides have stated that a date for the meeting between Trump and Putin has not yet been set, although both have expressed a desire to meet.
But the rapid diplomatic dynamic, which began with Putin's phone call with Trump just six days ago, has raised alarm in Ukraine and European capitals, as there are fears that the two leaders could quickly reach a deal that ignores their security interests, rewards Moscow for the invasion and leaves Putin open to threatening Ukraine or other countries in the future.
Jana Puglierin of the European Council on Foreign Relations said that February 2022, the month when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, showed Europeans that they could not rely on Russia, but that the events of this month are an even more significant turning point.
“February 2025 shows us that Americans no longer feel responsible for European security - and that their interests are fundamentally different from ours,” Puglierin said.
Rubio said he got the impression that the Russian side was "ready to begin a serious process to determine how quickly and by what mechanism the war could be ended."
The teams will work to restore the two countries' diplomatic missions in Washington and Moscow, Rubio added.
Lavrov said there was "great interest" in removing economic barriers between the two countries, after the US and other Western countries imposed sanctions on Moscow over the war, trying to isolate Putin.
Rubio was vague when asked whether those sanctions could be lifted.
"Other parties have sanctions too. The European Union will have to be at the table at some point, because it has imposed sanctions as well," he said.
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