In a significant development, US-Russia officials agreed on Tuesday to create a high-level team to negotiate Ukraine peace and promote economic cooperation, said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Earlier, top diplomats from Russia and the US met in Saudi Arabia to discuss improving ties and negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine — talks that reflected a major and rapid change in American foreign policy under President Donald Trump.
No Ukrainian officials were present at the meeting, which came as the beleaguered country is slowly but steadily losing ground against more numerous Russian troops in a grinding war that began nearly three years ago.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country won't accept any outcome from this week's talks if Kyiv doesn't take part. European allies have also expressed concerns they are being sidelined.
Beyond Ukraine, the meeting — attended by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other senior officials — had been expected to focus on thawing relations between the two countries, whose ties have fallen to their lowest level in decades.
In an interview with The Associated Press after the meeting, Rubio said both sides agreed to restore staffing at their respective embassies in Washington and Moscow to create missions to support Ukraine peace talks, bilateral relations and cooperation more broadly. Both embassies have been hit hard by expulsions of large numbers of diplomats over the course of several years.
The meeting was also meant to pave the way for a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. After the talks wrapped, Putin's foreign affairs advisor, Yuri Ushakov, told Russia's Channel One that no date has been set yet for that summit but that it was “unlikely” to take place next week.
(With inputs from AP)