Top Trump administration officers are set to meet with senior Russian officials to start talks aimed toward ending the battle in Ukraine, based on a number of sources.
National safety adviser Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff are anticipated to journey to Saudi Arabia for the assembly with senior Russian officers, two sources aware of the plans inform NCS.
One of the sources mentioned the assembly will happen within the coming days.
The sources declined to say which Russian officers could be in attendance, however NCS has previously reported the Kremlin is assembling a high-level negotiating crew to interact in direct talks with the US, together with top-level political, intelligence and financial figures, and Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian official who performed a key behind-the-scenes position in a recent US prisoner release deal.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mike McCaul additionally confirmed the plans throughout an interview with Politico on the Munich Security Conference, saying, “Rubio and Waltz and Witkoff (are) being dispatched to Saudi to talk to the Ukrainians and the Russians about Ukraine.”
The State Department had beforehand introduced Rubio would journey to Saudi Arabia within the coming days as half of a bigger journey to Munich and the Middle East. He is because of land in Israel on Saturday.
President Donald Trump indicated earlier this week that he may meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saudi Arabia within the “not too distant future,” however cautioned that no formal resolution had been made.
Key context: The convention in Munich has been steeped in uncertainty about how the Trump administration will strategy ending the battle in Ukraine. A phone call between Trump and Putin this week raised fears that Kyiv was being frozen out of the negotiations, and Trump’s envoy for the battle mentioned right this moment that European negotiators will not be involved in the talks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned Saturday {that a} Trump-Putin assembly that takes place earlier than Zelensky can sit down with the US president could be “dangerous.”
Also right this moment: Rubio had a cellphone name with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday.
The Russian international ministry mentioned the decision was held “at the initiative of the American side.” Both the ministry and US State Department issued statements describing the dialog as a follow-up to the Trump-Putin name, and mentioned it included dialogue of their dedication to working towards a decision to the battle in Ukraine.
NCS’s Mariya Knight contributed reporting to this publish.
This publish has been up to date with extra particulars on the talks.