(NewsNation) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine and normalizing relations with the United States.
After the meeting, Rubio said Russia and the United States agreed to appoint “high-level” teams dedicated to stopping the conflict, and that they will lay the groundwork for future cooperation.
“Today is the first step of a long and difficult journey, but an important one,” Rubio said at a press gaggle. “(United States President Donald Trump) wants (the war) to end in a way that’s fair, he wants it to end in a way that’s sustainable and enduring, not that leads to another conflict in another three years.”
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Ukrainian officials did not participate in the discussion in Riyadh, which included Rubio, U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the country will not recognize any agreements made without its input.
“We cannot acknowledge anything, any arrangements about us that were made without us,” Zelenskyy said.
Rubio acknowledged that “in order for a conflict to end, everyone involved in that conflict has to be OK with it.”
He added, though, that it’s been “three and half years since any sort of regularized contact between Russia and the United States — and in some cases between any of the participants in this conflict and Russia.”
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While Putin had previously refused to negotiate with Zelenskyy, the Russian president’s press secretary says he is now willing to.
Trump insists Putin wants peace — but hours before officials from Washington and Moscow met, Russia launched a drone attack on Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said Trump’s Ukraine envoy is set to visit the country next week and that he wants to take him to the front lines.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
