The United States and Russia have confirmed that their top delegates will meet in Saudi Arabia this week to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, in a move that has sparked concern among European leaders left out of the US-led effort.
Senior US and Russian officials will hold talks in Riyadh on Tuesday in an effort to lay the groundwork for peace talks, the US Department of State and the Kremlin confirmed on Monday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov, a foreign policy adviser to President Vladimir Putin, were due to travel to the Saudi capital, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
They will meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, the State Department said.
The confirmation comes just days after US President Donald Trump said he and Putin had agreed in a phone call to begin negotiations to end the war, which will hit the three-year mark later this month.
Trump’s push for bilateral talks with Moscow has raised alarm about what place Ukraine and its European allies would have at the negotiating table.
It also has spurred concerns that the US president could hand concessions to Russia, and that Europe’s security architecture and its defence partnership with the US could be weakened.
European leaders met in Paris on Monday to discuss their response to Washington’s policy shift on Ukraine, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen saying Europe’s security was at a “turning point”.
“Yes, it is about Ukraine – but it is also about us,” she said as she arrived at the emergency meeting. “We need an urgency mindset. We need a surge in defence. And we need both of them now.”
Reporting from Paris, Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler said there was “a real sense of urgency” among European leaders gathered in the French capital.
“It has become clear that the transatlantic partnership is no longer strong at all,” Butler said. “They see the US has already stepped away and they are very scared that what is agreed between Trump and Putin could have an impact on the future of Europe’s security.”
Riyadh talks
Peskov said this week’s meeting in Saudi Arabia “will be dedicated to possible negotiations on a Ukrainian resolution and organising a meeting between the two presidents”.
Following reports that Trump could meet Putin in Saudi Arabia, the Republican leader said at the weekend that such a meeting could happen “very soon”.
The Reuters news agency, quoting Peskov, reported that the talks on Tuesday will focus on “restoring the whole complex of Russian-American relations”. Russia’s sovereign wealth fund chief Kirill Dmitriev will also reportedly join the meeting.
Meanwhile, Rubio – the US secretary of state – said Tuesday’s discussions would seek to open a broader conversation that “would include Ukraine and would involve the end of the war”.
“A process towards peace is not a one-meeting thing,” he told the US television network CBS on Sunday.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would not take part in the Saudi Arabia-based talks or recognise any potential agreement reached in Kyiv’s absence.
However, Zelenskyy said he would visit Saudi Arabia separately on Wednesday and that he planned to ask Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for updates on the talks.
Turkish officials said Zelenskyy would visit Turkiye on Tuesday upon the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In a statement on X, Turkish government spokesman Fahrettin Altun said Zelenskyy and Erdogan would discuss ways to improve cooperation and bilateral ties, the latest developments in Ukraine as well as regional and global issues.
Reporting from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford said there was “real concern” among the Ukrainian leadership that they were being sidelined.
“There is a gradual realisation that reality has changed now” and that a return to Ukraine’s pre-war borders is unrealistic, Stratford said.
German leader urges unity
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters after the emergency summit in Paris that Europe and the US must be united on Ukraine’s security.
“There must be no division of security and responsibility between Europe and the USA,” Scholz said.
“In other words, NATO is based on the fact that we always act together and share the risk, thereby ensuring our security. This must not be called into question.”
Speaking ahead of the talks, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also said he would urge European leaders to “immediately” boost Europe’s defences, warning they do not match Russia’s.
“We will not be able to effectively help Ukraine if we do not immediately take practical steps regarding our own defence capabilities,” Tusk said.
“If Europe, and that’s the case today, is not able to counter Russia’s military potential, then we must catch up immediately.”
Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, has suggested that Moscow is happy with Trump’s approach, stating that discussions on European participation in talks on a settlement in Ukraine would be premature.
Lavrov also said he saw no reason for Europeans to take part in ceasefire talks, accusing them of wanting to “continue war” in Ukraine.
“I don’t know what they would do at the negotiating table,” he said during a news conference in Moscow. “If they are going to sit at the negotiating table with the aim of continuing war, then why invite them there?”
Before the summit in France, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said European leaders would discuss how to prevent a peace negotiation from ending up rewarding Russian aggression.
“A war of aggression cannot be rewarded. We cannot encourage others to launch wars of aggression,” he said in an interview with the Onda Cero radio station. “Today I’m convinced Putin will keep attacking and bombing Ukraine, so I do not see peace on the horizon at the moment.”
Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, last week warned Trump against “any deal behind” the backs of Ukraine or Europe and accused him of “appeasement”.
