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  • Saudi prince proving crucial to Trump efforts to end Ukraine, Gaza wars

    Top U.S. and Russian officials wrapped up their meetings Tuesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to discuss a pathway to end the war in Ukraine, days before Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is set to convene a summit with leaders from Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to discuss an Arab response to U.S. President Donald Trump's vow to take over Gaza. The two separate talks reflect the growing role of the prince in Trump's efforts to fulfill his campaign promise to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. The Saudi talks signaled a major détente between Washington and Moscow and an abrupt end of U.S. policy under former President Joe Biden to isolate Russia and support Ukraine "for as long as it takes."

  • US-Russia hold talks in Riyadh without Ukraine

    Top United States and Russian diplomats met in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, February 18, for talks on resetting their fractured relations, the first such discussions since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Both sides downplayed expectations of a breakthrough in this first high-level meeting between the countries since US President Donald Trump took office. Still, the very fact the encounter is taking place has triggered concern in Ukraine and Europe following the US' recent overtures towards the Kremlin. At Diriyah Palace in Riyadh, the talks began without visible handshakes, and no statements were made. A stern-faced US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat across from Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, with US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff by his side. Lavrov was accompanied by senior Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and National Security Adviser Musaad bin Mohammad al-Aiban also attended.

  • Top Russian and US officials discuss improving ties and ending the Ukraine war — without Kyiv

    The top diplomats from Russia and the U.S. met Tuesday in Saudi Arabia to discuss improving ties and negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine — talks that represented a rapid and major change in American foreign policy under President Donald Trump. No Ukrainian officials were present at the meeting, which came as the beleaguered country is slowly but steadily losing ground against more numerous Russian troops in a grinding war that began nearly three years ago. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country won’t accept any outcome from this week’s talks if Kyiv doesn’t take part. European allies have also expressed concerns they are being sidelined. Beyond Ukraine, the meeting — attended by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other senior officials — had been expected to focus on thawing relations between the two countries, whose ties have fallen to their lowest level in decades.

  • Rubio arrives in Saudi Arabia before Russia talks to end Ukraine war

    Russia said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will hold talks with top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on Tuesday that will focus on ending the war in Ukraine and restoring "the whole complex" of Russia-U.S. ties. Rubio arrived in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Monday on a previously planned trip. U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who are set to arrive later on Monday, will be joining him at the talks with the Russians. The talks will be among the first high-level, in-person discussions in years between Russian and U.S. officials and are meant to precede a meeting between the U.S. and Russian presidents. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov, a foreign policy advisor to President Vladimir Putin, would fly to the Saudi capital Riyadh on Monday. Riyadh, which is also involved in talks with Washington over the future of the Gaza Strip, has played a role in early contacts between the Trump administration, which took office on January 20, and Moscow, helping to secure a prisoner swap last week.

  • US, Ukrainian officials head to Saudi Arabia as talks loom on ending Russia’s war

    A Ukrainian delegation has arrived in Saudi Arabia for meetings in preparation for a possible visit by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a Ukrainian minister said Sunday, at a time of intense speculation over planned U.S.-Russia talks in the kingdom to end Moscow’s war on its neighbor. It also comes as a top U.S. envoy revealed that he and a fellow negotiator appointed by U.S. President Donald Trump were heading to Saudi Arabia. Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, who also serves as first deputy prime minister, didn’t clarify whether there is a link between Zelenskyy’s possible trip and the previously announced U.S.-Russia talks. In a Facebook post, she said that the Ukrainian delegation’s focus is on strengthening economic ties, as Kyiv “prepares to sign important economic agreements with countries in the region.”

  • Top US envoy to meet Russian officials for Ukraine peace talks

    US Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to meet Russian officials in Saudi Arabia in the coming days for talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, US officials say. America's top diplomat will be joined by national security adviser Mike Waltz and the US special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, the officials told the BBC's US partner CBS News. US special envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg said Washington, Moscow and Kyiv would be involved in talks, but Europe was not invited. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had not been invited to the talks in Saudi Arabia.

  • Zelensky warns Ukraine won’t accept decisions made without them in peace talks

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a "Meet the Press" interview aired Sunday that he would "never accept" decisions made by the U.S. and Russia about Ukraine's future, even as the two nations appear poised to engage in peace talks this week. President Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, confirmed Sunday on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" that he and National Security Adviser Michael Waltz will travel to Saudi Arabia to "hopefully make some really good progress" on the Russia-Ukraine peace process.

  • Trump says he might meet Putin in Saudi Arabia after call on Ukraine

    Trump made the comment a few hours after speaking with Putin in their first publicly disclosed call since Trump took office. Trump said they had agreed on "starting negotiations immediately" to end the war in Ukraine, which is approaching its third anniversary. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump floated the idea of meeting Putin in Saudi Arabia, along with the Saudi crown prince. He did not lay out a timeline and said he would deal with Putin on the phone in the meantime. In an interview with the Economist published on Wednesday, Zelensky had said he'd had little contact with Trump's team and raised concerns about "any decision-making" on Ukraine taking place without Kyiv's involvement.  

  • UK student Salma al-Shehab released from Saudi prison, say campaigners

    Salma al-Shehab, a Leeds University doctoral candidate who was handed a decades-long sentence for her tweets in 2022, has been released from a Saudi prison, human rights groups have reported. Her supporters and advocates were celebrating the news on Monday but also highlighted the ordeal she had been through and called on the Saudi government to ensure she could travel freely. The UK-based human rights group Alqst, which has documented Shehab's case and advocated for her freedom, said she had been held arbitrarily for four years "on the basis of her peaceful activism". "Her full freedom must now be granted, including the right to travel to complete her studies," the organisation said.

  • Saudi envoy to UK: No normalisation with Israel without Palestinian state

    Saudi Arabia will not normalise ties with the occupation state of Israel without a solution to the Palestinian issue, which involves the establishment of a Palestinian state, the Kingdom’s Ambassador to the UK, Khalid Bin Bandar Al Saud, has said. He added that Palestine has been fought over for 6,000 years, and that “it is not an easy thing to find, whether it’s during the Crusades […] I can’t think of anywhere that’s had that much done to it.” However, he stressed that “good things are never easy. And anyone who is objecting to what almost the whole world sees as the solution cannot be right. So, you know, again, that’s why I’m not optimistic, because we have a lot of problems along the way.”