Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has stated that his nation will not accept peacekeeping troops from NATO countries in Ukraine as part of any settlement, following high-level discussions with the US in Saudi Arabia.
“The presence of armed forces under a different banner does not alter anything. It is, of course, absolutely intolerable,” he remarked.
Both Russia and the United States announced they had agreed to designate teams to commence negotiations on bringing the conflict to an end.
“Today marks the initial step of a lengthy and challenging journey, but a crucial one,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after the dialogue.
Ukraine was excluded from the discussions, which its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, described as an “unexpected development.”
However, US President Donald Trump later expressed his “displeasure” with Ukraine’s reaction.
Speaking to journalists at Mar-a-Lago, he was asked by the BBC about his message to Ukrainians who may feel abandoned.
“I hear they’re unhappy about not having a seat, but they have had a place at the table for three years and long before that. This could have been resolved very easily,” he stated.
Following the meeting between American and Russian representatives in Saudi Arabia, Trump declared he was “far more optimistic.”
“They were very constructive. Russia wants to take action. They want to put an end to the brutal savagery.”
“I believe I possess the authority to conclude this conflict,” he asserted.
When questioned about the possibility of European nations deploying soldiers to Ukraine, he responded: “If they wish to do so, that’s fantastic, I fully support it.”
The assembly in Riyadh marked the first time since Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine that delegations from Russia and the US had met in person.
The discussions included US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, along with Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov and the head of Russia’s sovereign investment fund, Kirill Dmitriev.
Afterward, Lavrov announced that the US and Russia would assign ambassadors to each other’s nations at the earliest opportunity and work toward restoring complete diplomatic relations.
“It was a highly productive dialogue. We listened to each other and understood one another,” he said.
He reiterated Moscow’s long-standing stance that any enlargement of the NATO military alliance—including Ukraine’s membership—would pose a “direct danger” to Russia.
Rubio, on the other hand, expressed confidence that Russia was “prepared to engage in a meaningful process” to resolve the crisis.
“All parties must make concessions. We are not going to determine in advance what those should be.”
European leaders convened an urgent gathering in Paris on Monday to deliberate on their reaction to the apparent thaw in relations between Russia and the US under President Trump—but they failed to reach a consensus.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer stated that any resolution regarding Ukraine would necessitate a “US guarantee” to deter Russia from launching another attack and indicated he would contemplate sending British troops to Ukraine.
Conversely, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a significant NATO partner, said that discussing military deployments to Ukraine at this stage was “entirely premature.”
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk also ruled out sending troops, while Italy’s Giorgia Meloni—the only European leader to attend Trump’s inauguration—voiced skepticism.
During the Paris conference, she argued that stationing European forces in Ukraine would be “the most complicated and least effective” approach to securing peace.
In Riyadh, Rubio emphasized that the European Union would “inevitably need to participate” since they had also enforced sanctions.
Addressing Ukraine’s exclusion from the summit, he maintained that “no one is being pushed aside.”
“Everyone involved in this war must find the resolution acceptable,” he added.
Ukraine’s president appeared visibly fatigued and distressed when sharing his reaction to the meeting during a press conference in Turkey.
“We want everything to be just and ensure that no decisions are made behind our backs,” Zelensky declared.
“You cannot determine how to conclude the war in Ukraine without Ukraine’s involvement.”
He will be troubled by the apparent camaraderie between American and Russian officials in Riyadh but will recognize that he has little power to alter whatever arrangements they reach without his input.
The Ukrainian leader also understands that his country’s chances of holding out—let alone triumphing—against Russian forces without American assistance are exceedingly slim.
