The United States and Russia delegate hold talks in Saudi Arabia in the most significant high profile meeting since the beggining of the war.
According to BBC, a day after the emergency summit of the European leaders in France, the US and Russian representatives met in Riyadh on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, to discuss the issue of the Ukraine war.
The American delegates included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, while from the Russian side there was Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Putin's foreign policy advisor, Yuri Ushakov, and the head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund was present in the meeting.
However, the key country missing from the negotiations is Ukraine, which has already warned that it will not accept any peace deal decided solely by the US and Russia.
As the delegates of the two countries continue to talk, the Kremlin said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to talk to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky if needed.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters, “Putin himself said that he would be ready to negotiate with Zelensky if necessary. But the legal basis of agreements needs discussion considering the reality that Zelensky's legitimacy can be questioned.
Furthermore, on the other hand, Zelensky will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the capital, Ankara, a little later, as the two leaders are scheduled to hold a joint news conference at 13:00 GMT (16:00 local time) on Tuesday.
