Top Russian officials to hold talks with US in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday

Top Russian officials will hold talks with their US counterparts on restoring ties between the two countries, as well as the war in Ukraine and preparing a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, the Kremlin said.

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and Mr Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov will fly to the Saudi capital later in the day to take part in the talks set for Tuesday.

He said the discussions will be primarily focused on “restoring the entire complex of US-Russian relations” as well as organising possible talks on the Ukrainian settlement and the meeting of the two presidents.

Mr Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News on Sunday that he and national security adviser Mike Waltz will travel to Saudi Arabia for talks on Ukraine.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio is leading a delegation to Saudi Arabia for direct talks with Russian officials in the coming days to seek an end to the fighting in Ukraine.

The talks follow last week’s telephone call between Mr Trump and Mr Putin in which the American leader said they “agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately”.

The call upended years of US policy, ending the isolation of Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine three years ago.

After the call with Mr Putin, Mr Trump phoned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to inform him about their conversation.

Mr Trump told reporters on Sunday that Mr Zelensky “will be involved”, but did not elaborate.

However, Mr Zelensky told reporters his country will not take part in US-Russia talks, adding that he will not accept the outcome of the summit if Ukraine does not take part.

The Ukrainian President said he would travel to Turkey on Monday and to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, but that his trip to the Arab nation was unrelated to the planned US-Russia talks.

Speaking on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures programme, Mr Witkoff said he and Mr Waltz will be “having meetings at the direction of the president”, and hope to make “some really good progress with regard to Russia-Ukraine”.

In his TV interview, Mr Witkoff did not directly respond to a question about whether Ukraine would have to give up a “significant portion” of its territory as part of any negotiated settlement.

“Those are details, and I’m not dismissive of the details, they’re important. But I think the beginning here is trust-building. It’s getting everybody to understand that this war does not belong continuing, that it should end. That’s what the President has directed us to do,” he said.

Andriy Yermak, a top Zelensky adviser, said earlier on Sunday there was no possibility of Ukrainian and Russian representatives meeting directly in the immediate future.

In a Telegram post, Mr Yermak said the Ukrainians were not planning to do so “until we develop a plan” to end the war and bring about a “just peace”.

Mykhailo Podolyak, another Zelensky adviser, denied that Ukraine will participate in any planned US-Russia meetings in Saudi Arabia.

“There is nothing on the negotiating table that would be worth discussing,” he told Ukrainian television.

EU officials have pushed for the bloc to have a say in any Ukraine peace talks, and Mr Zelensky and his officials also insisted that Europe needs to be present at the negotiations.

Mr Lavrov on Monday was dismissive when asked about a possible role for Europe, saying that “I don’t know what they have to do at the negotiations table”.