US, Russia to name teams to discuss war’s end – DW – 02/18/2025

We are starting to get reactions now from the US State Department after a meeting between top US and Russian officials over the war in Ukraine. 

The United States and Russia agreed on Tuesday to address issues affecting their relationship and to start finding ways to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The State Department said that this effort is still in the early stages.

“One phone call followed by one meeting is not sufficient to establish enduring peace,” department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said after meetings in Saudi Arabia.

Talks between top US and Russian officials about the war in Ukraine ended after more than four hours.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs advisor, Yuri Ushakov, who attended the talks in Saudi Arabia alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, said the talks went well.

He said discussions on war would continue through separate negotiation teams in the future.

Ushakov mentioned that conditions were discussed for a meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Putin, but no date was set.

The talks in Riyadh might reshape European security, Jana Puglierin, a Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), warned.

“Washington has begun negotiations with Russia over the heads of Ukraine and the other Europeans, and there are fears that these will not only be about ending the war, but also about the future European security architecture,” she said.

Puglierin said US President Donald Trump could make concessions previously deemed implausible, including on US and NATO troops stationed in Eastern Europe and further NATO enlargement.

“Europe risks standing powerless on the sidelines as the foundations of European security collapse.”

She said the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2025 “destroyed our faith in a collective security order with Russia.”

Puglierin said it also highlighted issues of dependence on Russia and China in critical areas.

Last week, US Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a flurry of speeches, questioned both Europe’s security commitments and its fundamental democratic principles.

“February 2025 shows us that the Americans no longer feel responsible for European security – and that their interests are fundamentally different from ours,” Puglierin said.

Russia says Ukraine cannot join NATO, and a simple refusal to accept the country into the military alliance is also not enough. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stressed that NATO must disavow the Bucharest promises of 2008.

“It is worth noting that a refusal to accept Kyiv into NATO is not enough,” Zakharova said.

At a summit in April 2008, NATO declared that Ukraine and Georgia would join the alliance but provided no plan for their accession.

Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would not stop Ukraine from joining the European Union.

“Nobody can dictate to another country, and we do not plan on dictating,” Peskov said, “but it is completely different when it comes to security issues and military alliances. Here we have a different approach that is well known.”

The Russian statements come as top-ranking US and Russian officials are holding talks in Saudi Arabia about the war in Ukraine.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that NATO membership for Ukraine was unrealistic.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly said Ukraine would need security guarantees under any peace deal, and that could include NATO membership.

Ukraine has also expressed hopes of joining the EU, but that is complicated and could take years

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that the discussion about possible European peacekeeping troops in Ukraine is too early.

Speaking to public broadcaster ZDF, she echoed Chancellor Olaf Scholz, saying, “no soldiers will be sent into this hot war.” 

Direct US-Russia talks over the war have sparked a debate about what security guarantees Europe could offer as part of a down-the-line deal in Ukraine.

Baerbock said, “peacekeeping is a European task” and emphasized that any agreement regarding Ukraine must involve both Ukrainian and European participation. However, she also stated that a debate around sending peacekeeping forces to Ukraine after the war is far too premature. 

Speaking after a European leaders meeting about the issue on Monday, Scholz said having that debate right now was “completely premature” and “highly inappropriate” while the war is ongoing.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen told US envoy Keith Kellogg the EU wants to work with Washington for peace in Ukraine, and is ready to do more to arm Kyiv.

“We want to partner with the US to deliver a just and lasting peace for Ukraine,” von der Leyen wrote on social media after meeting Kellogg in Brussels.

She also outlined Europe’s plans “to scale up defense production and spending, reinforcing both European and Ukrainian military capabilities.”

Von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa hosted Kellogg at almost the same time as a meeting was taking place in Saudi Arabia between the US and Russia over the war in Ukraine. 

During the meeting in Brussels, von der Leyen’s office said she had “reiterated that any resolution must respect Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, backed by strong security guarantees.”

Saudi Arabia has returned to the diplomatic fold, hosting breakthrough US-Russia talks and an Arab leaders’ summit on Gaza.

“It’s a big coup for Saudi. The two superpowers come to Riyadh to settle their disagreements,” said Ali Shihabi, an advisor to the Saudi government. “It’s quite prestigious and affirms the soft power of the kingdom,” he told the AFP news agency.

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has positioned itself as a neutral party in global conflicts. This change comes after the country became isolated following the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

The world’s leading exporter of crude oil maintains close relations with Russia on energy policy while promising hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The country has also helped in prisoner negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was set to visit the Kingdom this week on a separate trip arranged before the US-Russia talks were announced. 

On Friday, Riyadh will host an Arab summit to discuss Trump’s proposal for a US takeover of Gaza.

Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, told reporters in Riyadh that Russia expects “progress” in economic talks with the United States in the coming months. He was speaking on the sidelines of US-Russia talks on the war in Ukraine.

“We have a series of proposals, which our colleagues are thinking about. And I think that there will, possibly, be progress in the not so distant future, in the next two-three months,” Dmitriev said.

Dmitriev, a US-educated former Goldman Sachs banker, played a role in early contacts with Moscow during Trump’s first term as president from 2016-2020.

Moscow is hoping US President Donald Trump could lift sanctions imposed over the Ukraine offensive.

“It’s very important to understand that US businesses lost around $300 billion from leaving Russia. So there is huge economic toll on many countries from, you know, what’s happening right now,” Dmitriev said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen received US Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, in Brussels.

Kellogg is on a whirlwind diplomatic tour that also saw him brief NATO allies on Monday ahead of a visit to Ukraine on Wednesday.

His meeting in Brussels on Tuesday comes a day after European leaders met for an emergency summit on Ukraine, following US President Donald Trump’s decision to arrange direct talks with Russia without Ukraine or European presence.

On Monday, Kellogg said he didn’t think it was “reasonable and feasible to have everybody sitting at the table.”

He was asked if the US would provide a security guarantee for any European peacekeepers deployed in Ukraine, one of the demands flowing from the European summit.

“I’ve been with President Trump, and the policy has always been: You take no options off the table,” he answered.

Talks between top United States and Russian officials about the war in Ukraine started in Saudi Arabia.

The US team is led by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and also includes National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.

The Russian delegation is headed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov.

These are the most significant discussions between Washington and Moscow since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The meeting reflects a significant departure from Washington’s position under the administration of President Joe Biden, which avoided public contacts because he believed Russia was not serious about ending the war.

Ukraine has stated that no peace deal can be made on its behalf in the talks, to which Kyiv was not invited.

New footage has been circulating online, appearing to show an Australian captured by Russian forces in Ukraine in December.

The video seemingly shows Oscar Jenkins, who appears to be weak and complaining of a broken arm.

It was uploaded to YouTube more than a week ago, but the date or authenticity cannot be verified.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday it “appears to confirm” Jenkins is alive.

He stated that Australia “holds serious concerns for Mr. Jenkins’ welfare” and made it clear to Russia that Jenkins has certain protections under international humanitarian law.

“We have called for Russia to release Mr. Jenkins so that he can come home to his family.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said he spoke with US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after Monday’s meeting of European leaders.

Macron stressed that a peace agreement could only be sustainable if Russia ends its aggression and there are credible security guarantees for Ukraine.

“We will work on this together with all Europeans, Americans, and Ukrainians. This is the key,” he wrote on social media.

European leaders met in Paris on Monday for an emergency summit to discuss a unified strategy after Trump unexpectedly called for immediate talks following his conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.

They indicated they were “ready” to provide future security guarantees for Ukraine, “depending on the level of American support.”

They also insisted that no deal over Ukraine should be made behind their backs.

The Elysee Palace became a crisis hub for Europe on Monday, with French President Emmanuel Macron hosting heavyweight European leaders as they scrambled to avoid the future of their continent being written without them.

But while Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen insisted the talks were never supposed to yield concrete results, the fact is that Monday’s meeting created more new questions than answers on what Europe will do next.

The Paris leaders’ line-up, which included France, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, Poland and Italy — as well as top EU and NATO officials — seemed not so united on which security guarantees Europe could offer as part of a down-the-line deal in Ukraine.

Read more: Few answers to US-Russia riddle after Paris crisis talks

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will receive the US Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, in Brussels on Tuesday.

The meeting will focus on US President Donald Trump’s plans for Ukraine and the consequences for Europe. 

On Monday, Kellogg met with NATO ambassadors in Brussels. The Alliance’s Secretary General, Mark Rutte, wrote on X that the talks were about working together for a “just and lasting peace in Ukraine.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for wide-ranging talks that are expected to focus on the war in Ukraine.

The Kremlin said the talks were to prepare for possible negotiations to resolve the Ukraine conflict and a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Neither representatives from Ukraine nor from European countries have been invited to the talks in Saudi Arabia. 

Although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also expected in Riyadh for talks with the Saudi leadership, he has stated that he does not recognize the legitimacy of the Rubio-Lavrov talks on Ukraine. 

He emphasized that any negotiations on the settlement of the conflict can only take place with the participation of the Ukrainian government.