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Negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war, first talks expected to take place in Saudi Arabia

2025-02-15 23:38:40 / BOTA ALFA PRESS

Negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war, first talks expected to take place

Senior Trump administration officials will meet with senior Russian officials to begin talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, according to multiple sources.

National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff are expected to travel to Saudi Arabia for a meeting with senior Russian officials, two sources familiar with the plans told CNN. One of the sources said the meeting will take place in the coming days.

The sources declined to say which Russian officials would be present, but CNN has previously reported that the Kremlin is assembling a high-level negotiating team to engage in direct talks with the US, including senior political, intelligence and economic figures, and Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian official who played a key behind-the-scenes role in a recent prisoner release deal with the US.

President Donald Trump said earlier this week that negotiations to end the nearly three-year war in Ukraine would begin “immediately” after a “long and very productive” phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The call, which was the first known conversation between the presidents since Trump took office last month, came as Trump made clear to his advisers that he wants to quickly end the conflict in Ukraine.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mike McCaul also confirmed the plans during an interview with Politico at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, saying, "Rubio, Waltz and Witkoff (are) being sent to Saudi to talk to the Ukrainians and the Russians about Ukraine."

The State Department had previously announced that Rubio would travel to Saudi Arabia in the coming days as part of a larger trip to Munich and the Middle East. Rubio, who landed in Israel on Saturday, held a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier in the day, the State Department said in a statement.

“The Secretary reaffirmed President Trump’s commitment to ending the conflict in Ukraine,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said. “In addition, they discussed the opportunity to potentially work together on a number of other bilateral issues.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry characterized the Lavrov-Rubio conversation as “a mutual commitment to cooperate on current international issues, including resolving the situation around Ukraine,” as well as the Middle East crisis. The two agreed to maintain regular contacts, including preparing for a high-level Russian-American meeting, the ministry said.

Rubio's call comes as the Trump administration's Russia-Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, said Saturday that the Europeans will not be at the negotiating table when trying to reach a resolution to the war in Ukraine.

“The answer is no,” Kellogg said at an event on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

The Ukrainians will be present “for sure,” Kellogg said. “It would be foolish to say that (Ukraine) wouldn’t.” As for the Europeans, Kellogg said he comes from a “school of realism” and that looking at the previous Minsk II agreement, “there were a lot of people at the table who really didn’t have the skills to execute some kind of peace process, and it failed miserably.”

The Minsk II agreement was negotiated in the Belarusian capital in 2015 in an attempt to end a bloody 10-month conflict in eastern Ukraine. The rare diplomatic effort brought together leaders from Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France, aiming to restore peace to the regions seized by pro-Russian separatists in 2014. Despite its ambitious goals, the agreement faced challenges in implementation, ultimately failing to bring lasting stability to the region.

 

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