Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Riyadh<\/p>\n
US and Russian officials agreed to explore the \u201ceconomic and investment opportunities\u201d that could arise for their countries from an end to the war in Ukraine<\/a> after talks in Saudi Arabia that amounted to a tectonic shift in Washington\u2019s approach to Moscow.<\/p>\n The statements from the two sides came amid concerns in Kyiv and across Europe<\/a> that Donald Trump could push for a peace settlement that favours Vladimir Putin. No Ukrainian or European officials were present at the meeting.<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump dismissed Ukrainian concerns about being excluded from the talks and, astonishingly, seemed to imply that Kyiv was to blame for the war.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cToday I heard, \u2018Oh, we weren\u2019t invited\u2019. Well, you\u2019ve been there for three years. You should have ended it three years [ago] \u2013 you should have never started it. You could have made a deal.\u201d<\/p>\n The president complained that he had seen no accounting of how US military aid is being spent and conspicuously avoided voicing support for Zelenskyy.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I have the power to end this war,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n After the talks at Diriyah Palace in Riyadh, the most extensive negotiations between the two countries in three years, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio<\/a>, said agreement had been made to create a high-level team to support Ukraine peace talks and to explore \u201copportunities which will emerge from a successful end to the conflict in Ukraine\u201d.<\/p>\n It marked a dramatic break with the Biden administration\u2019s efforts to isolate Moscow. Russia\u2019s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and Putin\u2019s chief foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, were photographed sitting across from Rubio, who attended the talks alongside the US national security adviser, Mike Waltz, and Steve Witkoff, Trump\u2019s special envoy to the Middle East.<\/p>\n Rubio said an end to the Ukraine conflict must be acceptable to all involved, including Ukraine, Europe and Russia, and that Washington\u2019s European allies had been consulted.<\/p>\n Kaja Kallas, the EU foreign policy chief, tweeted a message to Rubio: \u201cRussia will try to divide us. Let\u2019s not walk into their traps. By working together with the US, we can achieve a just and lasting peace \u2013 on Ukraine\u2019s terms.\u201d<\/p>\n The talks in the Saudi capital, however, underscored the rapid pace of US efforts to halt the conflict, raising alarm in Kyiv and across Europe, where officials met on Monday to discuss the possibility of sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.<\/p>\n Lavrov rejected the prospect of such a move on Tuesday. He said the deployment of Nato member troops in Ukraine, even if they were operating under a different flag, was unacceptable to Moscow. Russia has repeatedly rejected the idea of western boots in Ukraine.<\/p>\n \u201cWe explained to our colleagues today what President Putin has repeatedly stressed: that the expansion of Nato, the absorption of Ukraine by the North Atlantic alliance, is a direct threat to the interests of the Russian Federation, a direct threat to our sovereignty,\u201d Lavrov said.<\/p>\n He also rejected a US proposal that Russia and Ukraine halt strikes on each other\u2019s energy infrastructure, falsely claiming that Russia had never endangered Ukraine\u2019s civilian energy supply system.<\/p>\n Shortly after the meeting, Ushakov said the talks had gone well, with both sides agreeing that negotiators would discuss Ukraine. He said a potential Putin-Trump summit had been discussed, but that it was unlikely to happen next week.<\/p>\n