US and Russian officials have wrapped up the first round of peace talks on ending the war in Ukraine as they met in Saudi Arabia. It follows European leaders holding a meeting of their own in Paris. Follow updates on this live page.
Tuesday 18 February 2025 14:47, UK
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We’re now hearing from Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has been meeting Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
He says negotiations “should not take place behind our backs” after US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia today.
Zelenskyy, who announced he has postponed his visit to Saudi Arabia until 10 March, insists Europe should also be involved in the discussion about the end to the war in Ukraine.
Erdogan reiterated Turkey’s “full support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty”.
It’s 2.30pm in the UK, 5.30pm in Saudi Arabia.
If you’re just joining us, US and Russian officials have finished their first round of talks on the war in Ukraine.
Here’s a brief summary of everything you need to know this afternoon…
We’ve just heard from Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov after meeting US officials in Saudi Arabia.
Reflecting on the talks, he says they were useful, adding both sides showed “commitment to find solutions”.
US and Russian officials agreed to form a process for a settlement in the war in Ukraine, Lavrov says, adding “we also agreed to create conditions to restore our cooperation in full”.
Turning more specifically to the situation around NATO, Lavrov said Russian officials explained to the US delegation that expansion of the alliance is a “direct threat to Russia”.
“We’ve told the US that deployment of NATO troops in Ukraine, even under other flags, is unacceptable for Russia,” he added.
For context: Sir Keir Starmer said he is prepared to put “our own troops on the ground if necessary” in Ukraine if there is a deal to end the war with Russia.
Speaking before European leaders met in Paris yesterday, Starmer said he was “ready and willing” to put British troops into a peacekeeping force in Ukraine.
Sergei Lavrov is now talking to reporters following the first round of talks between the US and Russia in Saudi Arabia.
We’ll provide updates here – and you can watch Russia’s foreign minister speak in the live stream above.
Earlier, we brought you comments from Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, who indicated Vladimir Putin is “ready to speak about peace” (see our 9.32am post).
We can now bring you more comments from Peskov, who said Putin will speak with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy “if necessary”.
“At the same time, the legal fixation of the agreements is subject to serious discussion, taking into account the reality that speaks of the possibility of challenging the legitimacy of Zelenskyy himself,” he added.
For context: Putin has repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of Zelenskyy’s presidency after he was elected for a five-year term in 2019.
That term was set to expire last May, but Ukrainian officials said the martial law in the country following Russia’s full-scale invasion mean presidential elections cannot take place.
Putin himself was in power from 2000 to 2008 when Russia’s constitution limited the president to two consecutive terms.
He then served as prime minister before becoming president again in 2012 and, eight years later, drafted an amendment that would allow him to remain president for two more terms.
The US secretary of state has been talking to reporters following the conclusion of talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Saudi Arabia today.
Marco Rubio said the objective of upcoming negotiations was to ensure a peace for Ukraine that was “fair, enduring, sustainable and acceptable to all parties involved”.
He added: “What will that look like? That’s what this ongoing engagement is going to be about.”
Rubio suggested some of the current economic sanctions against Russia could be lifted as part of a peace settlement.
However, he warned there would have to be “concessions made by all sides,” adding: “We’re not going to predetermine what those are”.
He also dismissed complaints about a lack of Ukrainian involvement in talks so far, telling the reporters: “In order for a conflict to end, everyone has to be OK with it, it has to be acceptable to them.”
Rubio claimed that “the only leader in the world who can make this happen… is President Trump.”
However, the secretary of state also cautioned that “a lot of work remains before we can have a result.”
He said the aim of today’s meeting was to “establish lines of communication” following a long period of silence between Washington and Moscow.
Rubio said this would include re-establishing diplomatic missions in both cities and appointing “high-level” teams to negotiate a peace deal.
He added he was “convinced” that Russia was “willing to begin to engage in a serious process” to end the war.
Meanwhile, US national security adviser Mike Waltz confirmed that a date for a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had yet to be arranged.
Meanwhile, the US State Department also issued a statement about today’s talks.
Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said both sides had agreed to “establish a consultation mechanism to address irritants” in their relationship and to take steps towards normalising diplomatic relations.
She also said the US and Russia had agreed to “lay the groundwork for future co-operation on matters of mutual geopolitical interest and historic economic and investment opportunities which will emerge from a successful end to the conflict in Ukraine.”
Bruce added: “One phone call followed by one meeting is not sufficient to establish enduring peace. We must take action, and today we took an important step forward.”
Western officials do not believe Russia wants a long-term peace deal over Ukraine, our security and defence editor Deborah Haynes has said.
Speaking from Kyiv, she said: “All the signals that we’ve been getting from Western officials who have been studying the Russian activity on the ground is that there’s no sign of any serious intent to negotiate a long-term settlement.
“Yes, of course, they would like a pause in the fighting, but the expectation is they would have a pause, rearm, and then re-attack.”
Haynes also said people in Kyiv were “incredibly worried that these talks are taking place without a united position with the US and the Ukrainians”.
She said the “key issue” for Ukraine was membership of NATO, something its government “sees as a bit of a red line”.
However, Haynes said officials in Kyiv had accepted that such an arrangement would probably not be part of an “immediate” peace deal – but they have not given up on joining the military alliance longer-term.
She added that the US was “calling the shots” while Ukraine “watches nervously”.
More reaction from the talks in Saudi Arabia, this time from the US.
The State Department says US secretary of state Marco Rubio agreed with Russian officials to establish a “consultation mechanism to address irritants to the US-Russia relationship”.
It added Rubio and Sergei Lavrov agreed to appoint high-level teams to begin working on a path to end the war in Ukraine as soon as possible.
We’ll bring you more reaction from the talks as we get it.
The first round of talks between US and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia have now finished.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the negotiations “went well” with conditions for a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin being discussed, but no date agreed.
Talks lasted four-and-a-half hours, with Ushakov saying negotiators have been agreed with the US to discuss the war in Ukraine.
Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, said the officials treated each other in a respectful manner, but added it was “too early to talk about compromises”.
As we’ve been reporting, talks between US and Russian officials on the war in Ukraine are under way in Saudi Arabia.
The meeting follows emergency talks between European leaders in Paris yesterday.
Could this mark a turning point for the war? Watch below…
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