U.S., Russia agree to more talks to end war as sidelined Ukraine fumes

Top Trump administration officials left the door open Tuesday to permanent Russian control of some captured Ukrainian territory, as representatives from Washington and Moscow ended their historic meeting in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh with seemingly all options on the table and a promise to continue talks aimed at ending the conflict.

The face-to-face meeting of teams led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov underscored the dramatic change in American foreign policy after President Trump’s return to the White House last month. With Ukraine not participating in the initial talks, both sides agreed to appoint high-level diplomatic teams to work on ending the war that began three years ago with Russia’s invasion of its smaller neighbor. State Department officials said in a readout of the session that the parties would work in a manner that is “enduring, sustainable and acceptable to all sides.”

Mr. Trump’s highly personalized diplomacy with Russian President Vladimir Putin drew warnings from foreign policy specialists that opening such talks without Ukraine would be a grave mistake and send the wrong signal to all stakeholders.

The administration has brushed aside that criticism. By dispatching his top aides to meet directly with the Russians so early into his term, Mr. Trump has made clear that he is doubling down on his campaign pledge to end the Russia-Ukraine war as quickly as possible and to fulfill his vow to be a global peacemaker.

National Security Adviser Michael Waltz and special envoy Steve Witkoff joined Mr. Rubio. Mr. Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov, an aide to President Vladimir Putin, made up the Russian delegation in the talks, which were hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

In an interview with CNN and The Associated Press after the meeting, Mr. Waltz was asked whether the U.S. would sign off on a deal giving Russia control of Ukrainian territory.

“I think those are things that — those are to be discussed,” Mr. Waltz said. “And those are things that we will start and do the tough work ahead. But the important thing is that we’ve started that process. And what the president did not find acceptable was an endless war in Europe that was literally turning into, has turned into, a meat grinder of people on both sides.”

Mr. Rubio said, “Today is the first step of a long and difficult journey but an important one.” He would not elaborate on what concessions the U.S. expects from the Kremlin.

“President Trump is committed to bringing an end to this conflict. … He wants it to end in a way that’s sustainable and enduring, not that leads to another conflict in two to three years,” Mr. Rubio said. “That’s not going to be easy to achieve, but he is the only one in the world that can begin that process.”

Mr. Lavrov called the discussions “very useful.”

The two sides, he told reporters, “did not just listen to each other, but heard each other” and had a “mutual desire” to end the war. He said the U.S. and Russia planned regular meetings to build on the negotiations and agreed to restore operations and staffing at their respective embassies in Washington and Moscow.

A divided West?

The quickly organized talks have sparked widespread concern in Kyiv and the capitals of Ukrainian allies across Europe. Some contend that the Trump administration made unilateral concessions to the Kremlin before negotiations began. Russian forces occupy about one-fifth of Ukraine’s sovereign territory, and Moscow has formally annexed the Crimean Peninsula and parts of eastern Ukraine into the Russian state.

Some analysts said the administration could be playing into Moscow’s hands.

“It was a mistake for the Trump administration to negotiate with the Taliban without the Afghan government at the table. It is a mistake to negotiate with Putin without including Kyiv,” Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said in a social media post Tuesday.

“When the topic is the future of Ukraine, Kyiv has a right to be at the table, especially in light of the sacrifice and bravery of Ukrainians in defending their homes against Putin’s unprovoked invasion,” he said on X. “Putin understands that the United States and Europe are more powerful together. That’s why he wants to divide us. We should not help him.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would not be bound by any negotiations in which Kyiv is not present. He announced Tuesday that he was putting off his planned trip to Saudi Arabia for at least three weeks, in part to avoid giving the U.S.-Russian talks “legitimacy.”

“We want no one to decide anything behind our backs. … No decision can be made without Ukraine on how to end the war in Ukraine,” he told reporters while traveling in Turkey, according to English-language media accounts.

Some of Mr. Zelenskyy’s advisers said it was absurd to hold direct talks with Russia while bombs were routinely hitting Ukrainian cities and killing civilians.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a top adviser to Mr. Zelenskyy, said the Saudi meeting served as a forum to publicize the Kremlin’s “ultimatums.”

European leaders, including NATO members that have helped back Ukraine in its war against Russia, have expressed concern that the Trump administration has effectively sidelined them from the negotiations.

Mr. Waltz took issue with the criticism. He said Mr. Trump had spoken at length with Mr. Zelenskyy immediately after his surprise phone call with Mr. Putin last week.

The U.S. “will continue to push back on this notion that our allies haven’t been consulted,” he said. “They’re being [consulted], and they are being literally almost on a daily basis, and we’ll continue to do so.”

Mr. Rubio said the U.S. would insist that all the involved parties sign off on any final deal.

“In order for a conflict to end, everyone involved in that conflict has to be OK with it,” he told reporters. “It has to be acceptable to them.”

Washington is also considering the negotiations as a means to restore the frayed relationship between the U.S. and Russia. The White House said the talks could lay the groundwork for “future cooperation on matters of mutual geopolitical interest and historic economic and investment opportunities.”

Mr. Rubio and his aides have cautioned that resolving all the issues in the worst land conflict in Europe since World War II will take time. The secretary of state said the talks were the “first step of a long and difficult journey.”

Both sides agreed to ensure that the process moves forward in a “timely and productive manner” and to establish a mechanism to address “irritants” to the diplomatic relationship between Washington and Moscow. The ultimate goal is to normalize the operations of their respective diplomatic missions.

In his remarks, Mr. Lavrov laid down a red line for any settlement: Russia would not allow troops from NATO nations to serve as part of any peacekeeping force in Ukraine. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he is prepared to send troops as part of an international peacekeeping force.

“Any appearance by armed forces from the NATO countries under some flag, under the European flag or under [any] flags, doesn’t change anything,” the longtime Russian foreign minister said. “It is, of course, completely unacceptable.”

That stance could be at odds with the track pursued by other European powers that held meetings this week after being left out of the U.S.-Russia talks.

The Reuters news service reported that French President Emmanuel Macron is planning a second emergency summit with Ukrainian allies in Paris. Canada is among the nations invited to attend the second gathering.

• This article is based in part on wire service reports.