US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Saudi Arabia today from Israel, where he offered US support to its ally, Agence France-Presse journalists report.
Rubio is on his first Middle East tour since taking office.
The head of US diplomacy in Riyadh is scheduled to meet with Saudi officials to discuss US President Donald Trump's proposal to take control of the Gaza Strip, devastated after more than 15 months of war.
He is also scheduled to meet with Russian officials in Riyadh to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.
Rubio is joined in these talks by US National Security Advisor Mike Walz and US Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff.
It is not known exactly who Rubio will meet with on the Russian side, but on Saturday, Rubio spoke by phone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Kiev has not been invited to the talks in Saudi Arabia, a Ukrainian government source told the BBC this weekend.
But yesterday, US President Donald Trump said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would be included in the process.
Trump also said yesterday that he expects his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom he spoke by phone last week, to take place soon. Trump said last week that he had a long and very productive phone call with Putin about ending the war in Ukraine.
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