The United States and Russia have initiated formal discussions in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to advance efforts toward ending the ongoing war in Ukraine. However, Kyiv was notably absent from the high-level negotiations, raising concerns among Ukrainian and European officials.
The four-and-a-half-hour talks, held on Tuesday, mark the first direct engagement between Washington and Moscow on resolving the conflict that has raged since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The exclusion of Ukraine from the meeting has fueled speculation about the direction of future negotiations and the potential implications for the war-torn country’s sovereignty.
US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz acknowledged that discussions would inevitably touch on Ukraine’s territorial integrity. “Just a practical reality is that there is going to be some discussion of territory and there’s going to be discussion of security guarantees,” Waltz told reporters in Riyadh.
The meeting comes in the wake of shifting US policy under President Donald Trump’s administration, which has cast doubt on Ukraine’s NATO aspirations. The administration has suggested that it is unrealistic for Kyiv to reclaim the 20% of its territory currently under Russian control, further complicating diplomatic efforts.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sought to reassure allies, emphasizing that the European Union would need to be included in the negotiation process at some stage. “Any solution must be acceptable to all parties,” Rubio stated.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, reacting to the developments, postponed a planned visit to Saudi Arabia, asserting that negotiations on ending the war cannot take place behind Ukraine’s back.
Meanwhile, Russia has ramped up its demands. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova insisted that NATO must go beyond rejecting Ukraine’s membership bid and formally revoke a 2008 pledge that Kyiv could join the alliance at an unspecified future date. “Otherwise, this problem will continue to poison the atmosphere on the European continent,” Zakharova said in Moscow.
Zelenskiy has long argued that NATO membership is Ukraine’s only safeguard against further Russian aggression. Ukraine had relinquished its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal in 1994 in exchange for security guarantees from Russia, the US, and Britain—an agreement now under scrutiny given the current war.
European countries are reportedly considering deploying peacekeepers to Ukraine to support a potential peace settlement. However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has categorically rejected any scenario involving NATO forces operating in Ukrainian territory.
The Riyadh negotiations brought together Lavrov and Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov with newly appointed Trump administration officials, marking a diplomatic shift in Washington’s engagement with Moscow. Though no date has been set for a possible meeting between Presidents Trump and Vladimir Putin, both leaders have expressed interest in continuing discussions.
The talks, which followed a phone call between Putin and Trump just six days earlier, have raised alarms in European capitals. Analysts fear that Washington and Moscow could strike a deal that compromises Ukraine’s security and rewards Russia’s military aggression.
Jana Puglierin, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, described the developments as a turning point in US foreign policy. “February 2025 shows us that the Americans no longer feel responsible for European security—and that their interests are fundamentally different from ours,” she warned.
Following the Riyadh meeting, both sides agreed to establish high-level teams to explore pathways to a lasting peace settlement. US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce confirmed the initiative, stating, “The goal is to end the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible in a way that is enduring, sustainable, and acceptable to all sides.”
Russia’s lead negotiator, Ushakov, characterized the discussions as “a very serious conversation on all the questions we wanted to touch upon.” Meanwhile, Rubio expressed cautious optimism, saying, “I came away convinced that the Russian side is willing to begin to engage in a serious process to determine how quickly and through what mechanism an end can be brought to this war.”
As a sign of diplomatic thawing, Washington and Moscow are reportedly working on reopening embassies that were shuttered amid rising tensions. However, major sticking points remain, particularly regarding economic sanctions. Russia has signaled its desire for sanctions relief, but Rubio remained non-committal, stating that “the European Union is going to have to be at the table at some point because they have sanctions as well that have been imposed.”
With negotiations in motion, the road ahead remains uncertain. Ukraine and its allies will be closely watching to ensure that any potential peace deal does not compromise their security or territorial sovereignty.