RIYADH/ANKARA: Russia and the United States will name teams to negotiate a path to ending the war in Ukraine, the powers decided on Tuesday in discussions that drew a rebuke from Kyiv over its exclusion.

Washington noted European nations would have to have a seat at the negotiating table “at some point”, after 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 for more than four hours.

He said that any talks aimed at ending the war should be “fair” and involve European countries, including Turkiye — which offered to host negotiations.

Zelensky slams US-Kremlin talks in Riyadh, urges ‘fair’ negotiations

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 the sides had also agreed to “establish a consultation mechanism” to address “irritants” to Russia and America’s 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.

“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 Russia opposed any deployment of Nato-nation troops to Ukraine as part of an eventual ceasefire.

Kyiv’s reaction

Zelensky spoke after a nearly three-hour meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Turkish capital Ankara. “Ukraine, Europe in a broad sense — and this includes the European Union, Turkiye, and the UK — should be involved in conversations and the development of the necessary security guarantees with America regarding the fate of our part of the world,” Zelensky said.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2025