Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff are likely to meet with senior Russian officials in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to discuss an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, NewsNation reported on Saturday.
This meeting would be the first major interaction between Russian and Ukrainian officials since the 2022 war, and could prove crucial for President Trump’s peace plan.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country has not received an invitation for any meeting between Trump team officials and Russia in Saudi Arabia.
“It is strange to hold a meeting in such format before we had consultations with our strategic partners,” he told reporters in Munich on Saturday.
Politico reported that the announcement of the Saudi talks came as a surprise to Kyiv, and as of now, there are no plans to send a delegation.
Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine-Russia talks, retired General Keith Kellogg, will reportedly not join the meeting between the Trump team and Russian officials, U.S. officials told Politico.
No other significant European countries are expected to participate in the discussions. This might upset NATO allies who have publicly requested Trump include them in the negotiations.
On Wednesday, Trump said he expects to meet in person with Russian President Vladimir Putin multiple times, suggesting the first meeting will take place in Saudi Arabia.
“We ultimately expect to meet,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “In fact, we expect that he’ll come here, and I’ll go there, and we’re going to meet also, probably in Saudi Arabia. The first time we’ll meet in Saudi Arabia.”
The Hill reached out to the State Department for comment.
