U.S. starts talks with Russia, but leaves Ukraine out of the conversation
Talks occurred in Saudi Arabia, involved U.S. secretary of state and Russia's foreign minister
Top U.S. and Russian diplomats spent more than four hours in talks on Tuesday, leaving both Ukraine and the European Union out of the start of a conversation that could have implications for continental security and the fate of the largest land war that Europe has seen in decades.
The talks occurred in the Saudi Arabia capital of Riyadh, and involved U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, among other officials from the two countries.
And they came just days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced he'd spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin, a move that upended existing U.S. policy, shocked European leaders and raised questions about what may come next — including from Ukrainians.
The U.S. president says he wants the nearly three-year-long, all-out war in Ukraine to come to an end, and he's directed U.S. officials to pursue talks to achieve that.
Yet no one from Ukraine was present at the talks in Riyadh, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to signal his displeasure with the arrangement by saying he would postpone a trip to Saudi Arabia that was otherwise supposed to occur on Wednesday.
Bloomberg News reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wanted Zelenskyy involved in the talks in Riyadh, but the U.S. and Russia preferred to meet without Ukraine being present.
Tymofiy Mylovanov, a former Ukrainian economy minister and close observer of the war, assessed in a post on X that Zelenskyy is plainly "pissed off" by what's happening with the U.S. and Russia and any talks that do not include Ukraine.
Zelenskyy has already said that Ukraine will not accept any peace deals "made behind our backs without our involvement."
After the meeting in Riyadh, Rubio said Russia and the U.S. had agreed to begin working toward ending the conflict and improving the ties between Washington and Moscow. Putin's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said there was no clear date yet for an expected meeting between the Russian leader and Trump.
Trump spoke to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Tuesday, telling them a meeting with Putin would "probably" occur this month.
The U.S. president reiterated his belief that he had "the power to end this war," while also criticizing Ukraine and claiming Kyiv could have previously "made a deal" with Russia and potentially averted a conflict.
Evelyn Farkas, a former senior Pentagon official, says Ukraine could ultimately reject a deal negotiated by Russia and the U.S. about its future — if it judged it to be a bad one.
"In the worst-case scenario, Ukraine will keep fighting. If their defences crumble, I don't think that the American people want to see those pictures on television and to be held responsible," she said.
Ukraine not being cut out: Rubio
Rubio also claimed that Ukraine's absence from the talks in Riyadh was not a sign that it was being cut out of a possible peace process.
"No one is being sidelined here," Rubio said. "Obviously, there's going to be engagement and consultation with Ukraine, with our partners in Europe and others. But ultimately, the Russian side will be indispensable to this effort."
A U.S. State Department spokesperson said Rubio briefed diplomats from the EU, Britain, France, Germany and Italy on the talks after they occurred.
The talks marked the most extensive contacts between the two powers since the full-scale Russian invasion began on Feb. 24, 2022.
Back in the U.S., Democratic Rep. Jake Auchincloss was critical of what the actions of the Trump administration had done for Russia.
"Russia has won Round 1," Auchincloss, a co-chair of the bipartisan House Ukraine caucus, said. "The Kremlin has been normalized in bilateral diplomacy that excludes Ukraine and NATO, and they gave up nothing to get that."
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, was meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.
In remarks to reporters, Erdogan said it was Turkey's position that Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty were indisputable.
The Turkish leader also offered his country as a possible venue for any future talks between Ukraine and Russia — both of which border the Black Sea, as does Turkey. Turkey is also a NATO member.
War above Ukraine, beyond Ukraine
Talks aside, the war continued to rage on Tuesday — in both Ukraine and in parts of Russia.
The Russia's Defence Ministry said that 21 Ukrainian drones had been downed by air defences in the span of an hour on Tuesday evening.
Separately, Russia's state pipeline operator said a group of Ukrainian drones had attacked a station in the Krasnodar region on Monday and caused "serious damage." The fallout from that could cause problems for Kazakhstan's oil exports for the next two months.
The Ukrainian military said Russia had launched 176 drones during an overnight attack. Officials said 103 were shot down and 67 did not reach their targets. It was not stated what happened to the remaining six drones.
Drones have been pivotal tools for both Ukraine and Russia over the past three years. Ukraine has wielded a range of aerial drones to bring the fight to Russian soil, while Russian forces have unleashed their own drone threats against Ukraine and its people.
John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, says he believes the country has "essentially fought the Kremlin to a standstill" over the course of the all-out invasion.
"If we provide them enough support, they'll be able to defend their country, and if we provide them even more support, they could kick the Russians out," he told CBC News Network on Monday.
But Herbst said he's doubtful that's what the Trump administration will do.
Elsewhere in Europe
Keith Kellogg, a retired U.S. lieutenant-general and Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, is in Europe and sat down for a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday.
After the two met, Duda said U.S. officials had made it clear that Washington would not reduce its troop numbers in eastern Europe.
The assurances came just days after U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Europe should invest its own defence and not assume that the U.S. will maintain a presence on the continent forever.
Kellogg also met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen earlier Tuesday.
Von der Leyen stressed Europe's interest in working with the U.S. to end the conflict in Ukraine, which she said was at "a critical moment," and that "any resolution must respect Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, backed by strong security guarantee."
The U.S. envoy is due to head to Ukraine, where he is expected to meet with Zelenskyy. Media reports suggest Kellogg is due to spend several days in the country.
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With files from The Associated Press and Reuters