The President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced the commencement of a new phase of ceasefire negotiations in Ukraine between American and Russian delegations in a statement released by the public broadcasting network C-Span.
He stated that the talks will take place in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, on February 25, one week after the first round, which occurred in the same city on Tuesday.
After the meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned that the parties generally agreed on three objectives: to restore the staffing levels of embassies in Washington and Moscow, to establish a high-level group to support peace negotiations regarding Ukraine, and to explore the possibility of closer relations and economic cooperation.
However, he emphasized that the negotiations, attended by his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and other high-ranking Russian officials, marked the beginning of discussions, and much work remains to be done.
Lavrov described the meeting as "very useful."
No Ukrainian officials were present at the meeting. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that his country would not accept any outcomes from the negotiations, as Kyiv was not involved, and postponed his trip to Saudi Arabia that was scheduled for the previous Wednesday.
European allies also expressed dissatisfaction with being sidelined.
Trump and Putin Summit
Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov announced that preparations are underway for a personal meeting between Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, signaling a significant departure from the West's isolation of Moscow due to the war in Ukraine.
Speaking to Russian state media, Ryabkov stated that a potential Trump-Putin summit could encompass broad discussions on global issues, not just the war in Ukraine.
"It’s about starting to move towards normalizing relations between our countries, finding ways to address the most acute and potentially very, very dangerous situations, of which there are many, including Ukraine," he said.
However, the diplomat noted that efforts to organize such a meeting are in the early stages and that "the most intense preparatory work" will be required for it to take place.
The first round of negotiations between Moscow and Washington prompted European allies to rally around Zelensky. They are clearly anxious about Trump's alleged pivot towards Moscow and fear that peace negotiations may proceed without Ukraine's direct involvement and favor Russia.
On Friday, Trump seemingly retracted his previous comments that falsely blamed Kyiv for starting the war, but emphasized that Zelensky and former U.S. President Joe Biden should have done more to negotiate with Putin.
"Russia invaded, but they shouldn’t have let him invade," he said in an interview with Brian Kilmeade from Fox News.
The Russian army crossed the border on February 24, 2022, during a full-scale invasion that Putin attempted to justify with false claims of needing to protect Russian-speaking civilians in eastern Ukraine and prevent the country from joining NATO.