US-Russia talks to end war in Ukraine begin Tuesday in Saudi Arabia

Top officials from the United States and Russia will hold talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to work toward ending the war in Ukraine, as the Trump administration seeks to negotiate an end to the nearly three-year-old conflict.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is in the Middle East on his first foreign trip, will lead the U.S. delegation. He will be joined by Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and national security adviser Mike Waltz, Witkoff said in an interview on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov will take part in the talks Tuesday, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who said the officials will travel Monday to Saudi Arabia ahead of the talks.

Peskov said the talks will focus on “restoring the entire complex of U.S.-Russian relations, as well as preparing possible talks on the Ukrainian settlement and organizing a meeting of the two presidents.”

Ukrainian and European officials will not take part in the discussions this week.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made clear that he would not accept any deal made without Kyiv at the negotiating table.

“I will never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia about Ukraine. Never,” he told NBC News’s Kristen Welker, in an interview that aired Sunday on “Meet the Press.”

“The war in Ukraine is against us, and it is our human losses,” Zelensky added. “And we are thankful for all the support, unity between U.S.A. — in U.S.A. around Ukraine support, bipartisan unity, bipartisan support, we’re thankful for all of this. But there is not any leader in the world who can really make a deal with Putin without us, about us.”

President Trump told reporters Sunday that he expects Zelensky to be involved in the peace talks with Russia.

“Yeah, I do. I do. He will be involved, yes,” he said without elaborating.

Zelensky is traveling to the Middle East this week, but he told journalists his trip is not related to the Russian-US meeting. He visited the United Arab Emirates, will travel to Turkey on Monday and will be in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

The Associated Press contributed.