A senior team from the Trump administration will meet with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Saudi Arabia to discuss ending the ongoing Ukraine conflict, US officials confirmed on Saturday.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and Trump’s Middle East negotiator Steve Witkoff will lead the talks in Saudi Arabia.
The discussions come just days after Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time since returning to office. The two leaders agreed to initiate talks on a ceasefire in Ukraine.
“Secretary Rubio had a telephone call with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, reaffirming President Trump’s commitment to finding an end to the conflict in Ukraine,” the State Department said.
Trump’s involvement is part of a broader effort to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine, with Witkoff previously playing a significant role in a prisoner exchange deal that facilitated the call between Trump and Putin.
Trump’s announcement of the upcoming talks has caught Kyiv and its European allies off guard, raising concerns that they may be sidelined in the discussions about Ukraine’s future after the largest land invasion in Europe since World War II.
Details regarding the timing of the meetings and the officials’ travel plans remain unclear, but Rubio had already been scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia as part of his Middle East tour, which began on Saturday with a stop in Israel.
