Russia, US to name negotiators on ending Ukraine war

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud receives US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Saudi Foreign Ministry headquarters in Riyadh on February 17, 2025. [AFP] Russia and the United States on Tuesday agreed to establish teams to negotiate a path to ending the war in Ukraine after talks that drew a strong rebuke from Kyiv over its exclusion. Washington noted European nations would have to have a seat at the negotiating table "at some point", following the first high-level official Washington-Moscow talks since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Some European leaders, alarmed by President Donald Trump's overhaul of US policy on Russia, fear Washington will make serious concessions to Moscow and re-write the continent's security arrangement in a Cold War-style deal. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed his nation's exclusion from the Riyadh gathering, which lasted more than four hours. He said that any talks aimed at ending the war should be "fair" and involve European countries, including Turkey -- which offered to host negotiations. "This will only be feeding Putin's appetite," a Ukrainian senior official requesting anonymity told AFP, referring to the launch of talks without Ukraine. Trump for his part said he was "much more confident" of a deal after the Riyadh talks, telling reporters Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago estate: "I think I have the power to end this war." He also chided Kyiv for complaining about being cut out of discussions. "Today I heard, oh, well, we weren't invited. Well, you've been there for three years", Trump said, referring to the war. "You should have never started it. You could have made a deal." 'Heard each other' US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed to "appoint respective high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible", the State Department said. Washington added that the sides had also agreed to "establish a consultation mechanism" to address "irritants" to the US-Russia relationship, noting the sides would lay the groundwork for future cooperation. Yuri Ushakov, President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy aide, confirmed the negotiating teams' appointment but said it was "difficult" to discuss a date for a potential Trump-Putin meeting. Trump said he would "probably" meet with Putin before the end of the month, but did not elaborate. Riyadh marks a diplomatic coup for Moscow, which had been isolated for three years under the previous US administration of Joe Biden. Moscow's economic negotiator, Kirill Dmitriev, said Western attempts to isolate Russia had "obviously failed". "We did not just listen but heard each other, and I have reason to believe the American side has better understood our position," Lavrov told reporters. The veteran diplomat noted that Russia opposed any deployment of NATO-nation troops to Ukraine as part of an eventual ceasefire. European allies publicly diverged this week over whether they would be open to sending truce peacekeepers to Ukraine. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was prepared to consider committing British soldiers. French President Emmanuel Macron told a regional newspaper Tuesday that while Paris was not "preparing to send ground troops, which are belligerent to the conflict, to the front", it was considering sending "experts or even troops in limited terms, outside any conflict zone". Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said any debate on the matter was "completely premature". Macron said he would host another round of talks on Wednesday with European and non-European nations. Russia sketched out some of its perspectives on future talks, arguing that settling the war required a reorganisation of Europe's defence agreements. Moscow has long called for the withdrawal of NATO forces from Eastern Europe, viewing the alliance as an existential threat on its flank. Before invading Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow had demanded NATO pull out of central and eastern Europe. Warning that Russia was attempting to divide the West, the top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas told Rubio on X, "let's not walk into their traps", adding that peace can be achieved "on Ukraine's terms". Rubio briefed key European ministers on the Riyadh talks Tuesday, acknowledging Europe would need to be involved at some point. "There are other parties that have sanctions" on Russia, Rubio told them. "The European Union is going to have to be at the table at some point because they have sanctions as well." 'How to start negotiations' The negotiations at Riyadh's Diriyah Palace began without visible handshakes. Both Moscow and Washington had cast Tuesday's meeting as the beginning of a potentially lengthy process and downplayed prospects of a breakthrough. Trump says he wants to end the war, but has presented no concrete plan. During the election campaign, he boasted that he could do it in one day. Washington has told both sides that concessions will have to be made if any talks materialise. Russia on the eve of the summit said there cannot be even a "thought" on it giving up territory seized from Ukraine. The Kremlin on Tuesday said Ukraine had the right to join the European Union, but not the NATO military alliance. It also said Putin was "ready" to negotiate with Zelensky "if necessary".

Russia, US to name negotiators on ending Ukraine war

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