American officials met with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, following up on President Donald Trump’s conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Aide to the President Yuri Ushakov, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said Tuesday, sharing that the American trio was “chosen by President Trump to reestablish the bilateral relationship.”
“President Trump wants to stop the killing,” Bruce said, adding, “The United States wants peace and is using its strength in the world to bring countries together. President Trump is the only leader in the world who can get Ukraine and Russia to agree to that.”
During the meetings, American officials agreed to establish a “consultation mechanism to address irritants to our bilateral relationship with the objective of taking steps necessary to normalize the operation of our respective diplomatic missions,” the State Department shared. The leaders also agreed to appoint high-level teams to devise solutions for ending the war in Ukraine, to lay the groundwork for “future cooperation on matters of mutual geopolitical interest” as well as economic and investment opportunities that arise from ending the war in Ukraine.
And both Russian and American officials pledged to “remain engaged to make sure the process moves forward in a timely and productive manner.”
“One phone call followed by one meeting is not sufficient to establish enduring peace,” Bruce said. “We must take action, and today we took an important step forward.”
Trump and Putin have discussed meeting and plan to do so, though American officials did not set a date on Tuesday, Waltz told reporters.
(Photo by Russian Foreign Ministry / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“We’ve agreed on four principles that I think are important,” Rubio said in an interview with CNN and the Associated Press following the meeting. “First is that we are going to point our teams respectively to work very quickly to reestablish the functionality of our respective missions in Washington and in Moscow. For us to be able to continue to move down this road, we need to have diplomatic facilities that are operating and functioning normally.”
“The second point is that we’re going to appoint a high-level team from our end to help negotiate and work through the end of the conflict in Ukraine in a way that’s enduring and acceptable to all the parties engaged,” he continued. “The third point is to begin to work at a high level as well to begin to discuss and think about and examine both the geopolitical and economic cooperation that could result from an end to the conflict in Ukraine. Obviously, we have to see that conflict come to a successful and enduring end in order for that to be possible.”
He concluded: “And the last thing we agreed to that is that, while our teams are going to be working on all of this, the four of us who were here today — the five of us that were here today are going to remain engaged in this process to make sure that it’s moving along in a productive way.”
Waltz stressed in that same interview that the United States is looking for a “permanent” end to the war, rather than temporary ends that have occurred in the past.
“We know just the practical reality is that there is going to be some discussion of territory and there is going to be a discussion of security guarantees,” he said. “Those are just fundamental basics that will undergird and underlie any type of discussion.”
But the National Security Adviser said the most important part of the conversation is that Trump wants to “end the killing that is going on.”
“The death and destruction that is happening as this war goes on and on, month after month after month in the killing fields of eastern and southern Ukraine, is unacceptable,” he said. “It is not in the interest of either country. It’s not in the interest of the world and certainly not in the interest of United States and Europe.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was not invited to Tuesday’s meeting, and has said that he will not sign any agreement that is negotiated without Ukraine’s involvement.
“I will never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia about Ukraine,” Zelensky said in a Sunday interview with “Meet the Press.” “Never. And our people, never. And our adults, and children, and everybody, it can’t be so.”
“The war in Ukraine is against us, and it is our human losses,” he continued. “And we are thankful for all the support, unity between USA —in USA around Ukraine support, bipartisan unity, bipartisan support, we’re thankful for all of this.”
On Tuesday, Zelensky said at a news conference in Turkey that Ukraine did not give in to Russia’s demands three years ago when the war began, and that it will not do so now.
“If we didn’t go for all these ultimatums at the most difficult moment, why do we have the feeling that Ukraine will do it now?” he added.
Rubio also met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on Monday, the State Department said. Both Rubio and the Crown Prince “reaffirmed their commitment to implementing the ceasefire in Gaza and ensuring that Hamas releases all hostages, including American citizens.” Rubio also stressed the importance of “an arrangement for Gaza that contributes to regional security.”