The much-awaited Russia-United States meeting in Saudi Arabia to discuss ways to end the Ukraine war concluded on Tuesday. The discussions lasted for about four hours.
.@SecRubio on negotiations to secure peace in Ukraine: "The only leader in the world who can make this happen — who can even bring people together to begin to talk about it in a serious way — is President Trump." pic.twitter.com/Rwwez1JYLX
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 18, 2025
While briefing the press after the meeting, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, "Today is the first step of a long and difficult journey, but an important one."
Rubio pointed out that the goal is an agreement that is acceptable to all parties including Ukraine, partners in Europe and Russia as well.
Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a meeting in Riyadh to explore possible ways to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which is nearing three years. However, Kyiv was missing from the key talks.
Zelensky fears Russia and the US will push an ultimatum on Ukraine, including de-arming and giving up (even more?) territories.
— Tymofiy Mylovanov (@Mylovanov) February 18, 2025
Zelenskyy: I feel that negotiations are going between Russian and the U.S., about Ukraine, without Ukraine. With ultimatum from Russia. 1/ pic.twitter.com/dhrEB4tbnc
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy postponed his visit to Saudi Arabia in order to not give "legitimacy" to the meeting between US and Russian officials, Reuters reported.
The visit was originally planned for Wednesday, until March 10.
Zelenskyy earlier said that Kyiv would not agree to any terms or outcome of the meeting to which the country is not part of. Even the European partners are not quite happy with the US’s hastily decision to end the conflict. They fear that it would affect the security concerns of the European partners.
The US delegation also comprises National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. They said special teams would be appointed by the US and Russia to negotiate a settlement to end the Ukraine conflict.
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The talks also focused on improving ties between Washington and Moscow. On a possible meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, the US team said that a date has not yet been decided.
"It was a very serious conversation on all the questions we wanted to touch upon," Russian negotiator Yuri Ushakov told reporters.
As the meeting concluded, Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that the US "better understood" Moscow's position on the situation. He went on to describe the meeting as a "very useful" one.
Lavrov said that Moscow has conveyed to Washington that it opposes any NATO member sending any troops to Ukraine as part of a ceasefire.
