 "US West Asia envoy, NSA head to Saudi Arabia for Russia talks—without Ukraine")
White House West Asia envoy Steve Witkoff said on Sunday that he would travel to Saudi Arabia later in the day alongside National Security Advisor Mike Waltz for discussions on ending Russia’s war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the BBC has cited a government source, saying that Ukraine is not attending US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia.
His remarks to Fox News were the first official confirmation that the talks would take place.
The upcoming discussions in Saudi Arabia represent some of the first high-level, in-person meetings between Russian and US officials in years. These talks are intended to pave the way for a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
”I am going tonight,” Witkoff said of the trip in a Fox News interview. ”I’ll be traveling there with the national security advisor, and we’ll be having meetings at the direction of the president, and hopefully we’ll make some really good progress.”
Ukraine frustrated by US exclusion from Russia negotiations
Ukrainian leaders along with officials in other European nations have openly voiced their frustration over being excluded from certain negotiations between US and Russian officials. Ukrainian representatives have stated that they were not invited to the upcoming meeting in Saudi Arabia and emphasized that they would not recognize or be bound by any agreements resulting from those discussions.
Witkoff pushed back against the idea that the Ukrainians have been cut out of talks with the Russians. In the Fox interview, he noted that Ukrainian officials met with several high-ranking U.S. officials during the Munich Security Conference over the weekend, though he did not say that the Ukrainians were welcome in Saudi Arabia.
”I don’t think this is about excluding anybody,” Witkoff said. ”In fact, it’s about including everybody.”
With inputs from agencies
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