(NewsNation) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian officials were not included in the meeting.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the country will not recognize any agreements made without its input.
“Ukraine regards any negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine as negotiations with no result,” Zelenskyy said. “And we cannot acknowledge anything, any arrangements about us that were made without us.”
The meeting 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 — was meant to pave the way for a meeting between Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement that the two parties agreed to appoint “high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible.”
“President Trump wants to stop the killing; the United States wants peace and is using its strength in the world to bring countries together,” the statement said.
Yuri Ushakov, an aide to Putin, told Russia’s Channel One that a date for such a meeting has not yet been set.
Trump insists Putin wants peace — but hours before officials from Washington and Moscow met, Russia launched a drone attack on Ukraine.
While Putin had previously refused to negotiate with Zelenskyy, the Russian president’s press secretary says he is now willing to.
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.
This story is developing. Refresh for updates.
