US and Russia to appoint teams to end Ukraine war during talks, despite Kyiv’s absence

The United States and Russia agreed in Riyadh on Tuesday to press ahead with efforts to end the war in Ukraine, a US official said, as Kyiv and its European allies watched anxiously from the sidelines.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov decided after meeting to appoint teams to negotiate an end to the Ukraine conflict.

Rubio and Lavrov agreed to “appoint respective high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible in a way that is enduring, sustainable, and acceptable to all sides,” State Department spokesman Tammy Bruce said.

Russia told the United States on Tuesday that settling the war in Ukraine required a reorganisation of Europe’s defence agreements, as the superpowers met in Saudi Arabia.

Moscow had long called for the withdrawal of Nato forces from Eastern Europe, viewing the alliance as an existential threat on its flank.

The continent’s defences were raised as part of the talks, which are the first time high-level officials from the US and Russia have met since the Kremlin invaded Ukraine three years ago.

Europe, alarmed by Donald Trump’s overhaul of US policy on Russia, fears Washington will make serious concessions to Moscow and rewrite the continent’s security arrangement in a Cold War-style deal between superpowers.