In Saudi Arabia:

USA and Russia negotiate on Ukraine today

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (right) meets his experienced Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov (left) in Saudi Arabia.

(Bild: AFP/Pool/Johan Ordonez, Alexander Nemenov)

Without the participation of Ukraine and its European supporters, the chief diplomats of the USA and Russia are holding direct negotiations in Saudi Arabia today. Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine is likely to dominate the first meeting between the new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his experienced Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

While Rubio is accompanied by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Lavrov traveled with Yuri Ushakov - the foreign policy advisor to Kremlin head Vladimir Putin. "The main thing is to achieve a real normalization of relations between us and Washington," Ushakov told Russian state television on arrival at Riyadh airport. He did not want to comment on the negotiating positions.

Preparations for meeting between Trump and Putin
According to the Kremlin, the talks are also about preparing for a possible meeting between Putin and US President Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia. Rubio's entourage arrived in the Gulf state before the Russian delegation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi is also planning a trip to Saudi Arabia these days. However, he had not been informed in advance about the meeting between the Americans and the Russians and would not be attending, he said during a visit to the United Arab Emirates.

He would not recognize any agreements reached in "negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine", Selensky emphasized at a press conference in Abu Dhabi, according to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency. However, Russia and the USA could of course discuss bilateral problems.

Newcomer Rubio meets veteran Lavrov
The war of aggression against Ukraine ordered by Putin in February 2022 has led to a deep rift between the USA and Russia. During the first three years of the war, the United States under President Joe Biden was Ukraine's most important supporter and arms supplier. His successor Donald Trump, who was sworn in in January, heralded a drastic change of course. Last week, he called Putin and, according to official accounts, spoke to him about a possible end to the war. Rubio and Lavrov also spoke on the phone afterwards.

Rubio voted against a billion-euro aid package to support Ukraine in the US Senate last year. He has a much lower profile in foreign policy than Lavrov, who has represented Putin's foreign policy on the world stage as a minister for more than 20 years and began his diplomatic career back in the 1970s.

Rubio recently said of Trump that he is a "businessman who is involved in politics, not a politician". Partly because of this approach, there are fears in Kiev that Trump's government wants to push through a peace deal on terms that are favorable to the US and completely unacceptable to Ukraine. Russia already controls almost a fifth of Ukraine's territory, including the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014.

No decisions at the crisis summit in Paris
Under the impression of the abrupt change of course by the new US administration, several European heads of state and government as well as the heads of the EU and NATO held talks in Paris on Monday at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron. The crisis summit was overshadowed by disagreements over the possible deployment of peacekeeping troops to secure a possible peace agreement between Kiev and Moscow. No decisions were made during the informal talks.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described the discussion about peacekeeping troops as irritating and completely premature. He criticized the fact that possible outcomes of peace talks that had not even taken place were being discussed over the heads of the Ukrainians. "This is highly inappropriate, to put it bluntly and honestly," he said. It was an "inappropriate debate at the wrong time and on the wrong topic", said Scholz.

In doing so, he was taking issue with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and host Macron, among others. Shortly before the meeting in Paris, Starmer had expressed his willingness to send soldiers to Ukraine if necessary. France is also said to have expressed its willingness to send troops some time ago. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stated after the meeting that details would still have to be decided. However, Europe is "ready and willing" to take a leading role in providing security guarantees for Ukraine and to invest "much more" in its own security.

Macron then spoke to Selensky on the phone. "We have a common view: There must be reliable, strong security guarantees," Selenskyj wrote afterwards on Telegram. Other solutions without guarantees, such as a fragile ceasefire, would only be the prelude to a new Russian war against Ukraine and other states in Europe, he warned.

US special envoy Kellogg travels to Ukraine
Selensky also confirmed that the US special envoy Keith Kellogg is expected in Ukraine on Thursday. During his three-day visit, he will primarily hold talks with military leaders such as Commander-in-Chief Olexander Syrskyi.

He hopes that Kellogg will take an understanding of the security guarantees required by Kiev back to Washington, said Selenskyj. "I think that after his return to the US, we will understand when there will be a meeting between me and President Trump," said the Ukrainian president.