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During a meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, United States and Russian officials discussed ending the nearly three-year-long war in Ukraine—without any Ukrainian officials present at the table.
Knewz.com has learned that the meeting in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, February 18, involved U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Michael Waltz, and special Mideast envoy Steven Witkoff, along with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the Russian foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov.
The talks in Saudi Arabia saw the U.S. and Russian sides broadly agree on three key objectives, according to reports: the establishment of closer relations and economic cooperation, the formation of "a high-level team to support Ukraine peace talks," and "to restore staffing at their respective embassies in Washington and Moscow."
In a statement, Rubio stressed that the talks "marked the beginning of a conversation, and more work needs to be done."
Lavrov seemed to echo Rubio's sentiment as he said that "the conversation was very useful... We not only listened, but also heard each other."
Notably, U.S. military volunteers fighting alongside Ukraine’s armed forces have branded President Donald Trump a "jacka--" and a "coward" over his private phone call with President Putin the previous week.
Ryan O’Leary, an Iraq war veteran who leads Chosen Company, one of the largest foreign volunteer units in Ukraine, said in a statement:
"F--- Trump and his sh---y supposed peace deal... Any peace deal is ultimately up to Ukrainians alone, who should be included directly in talks. Neither Trump nor his administration should have any say in how the war ends."
"Only the soldiers and the Ukrainian people should have that say, not some jackass and his jackass cabinet members sitting behind their white picket-fenced houses on a golf course," O’Leary added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has long insisted that peace talks regarding Ukraine must involve officials from Kyiv, and has maintained that his country would not accept any outcome from the talks in Saudi Arabia.
Ukraine's demands to be included in peace talks came amidst speculations that a settlement regarding the conflict facilitated by the current Donald Trump administration might go in Russia's favor: with the frontline being frozen and Russia retaining the territories it has annexed in Ukraine over the course of the war.
Trump's Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth said in a statement in Brussels on Wednesday, February 12, that "returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is unrealistic, that NATO membership should not be on the table, and that U.S. troops in Ukraine would not be part of any security guarantee," according to reports.
A NATO membership is also something Trump does not see in the cards for Ukraine, as he said previously: "I don’t see any way that a country in Russia’s position … could allow them to join NATO. I don’t see that happening."
On the other hand, it was revealed the previous week that Russia is reportedly arming for local conflicts with former Soviet states, and is preparing for a potential war with NATO down the line.
An unclassified report from the Danish Defence Intelligence Service has stated that "Russia perceives itself as being in conflict with the West and is preparing for a war against NATO."
"While no decision to initiate such a war has been made, Russia is building the capacity to make that choice if deemed necessary," the spy intelligence report stated, adding that the threat is greater if Putin sees NATO as "militarily weakened or politically divided".
It is worth noting that European leaders had also previously insisted that they be included in the peace talks regarding the Ukraine war as well, a demand they made in the aftermath of President Trump's call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.
However, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in a statement on Thursday, February 13, that it was “premature” to discuss a role for Europe in any talks.