US, Russia agree on 'four principles' for Ukraine ceasefire talks, starting with restaffing of embassies

US negotiators who met Russian diplomats in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday said that the two countries agreed on “four principles” to advance ceasefire discussions between Russia and Ukraine, beginning with the restaffing of embassies.

“For us to be able to continue to move down this road, we need to have diplomatic facilities that are operating and functioning normally,” Politico quoted Secretary of State Marco Rubio as telling reporters after the meeting, sitting alongside national security adviser Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

Rubio said the meeting between the US officials and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Vladimir Putin aide Yuri Ushakov — which lasted roughly 4.5 hours — is an “important first step”  of a “long and difficult journey”.

Rubio’s other principles were appointing “a high-level team” to work on negotiations, beginning to discuss the economic and geopolitical “cooperation” that could come from a ceasefire, and a commitment to continuing the talks.

“This needs to be a permanent end to the war,” Politico quoted Waltz as telling reporters.

“And not a temporary end, as we’ve seen in the past. We know just the practical reality is that there is going to be some discussion of territory. And there’s going to be discussion of security guarantees. Those are just fundamental basics that will undergird and underlie any type of discussion,” he added.

In their remarks, both Rubio and Waltz emphasised repeatedly that a potential resolution to the war in Ukraine would not have been achievable without President Donald Trump.

“President Trump is determined to move very quickly,” Waltz said, pointing to the recent phone call between Trump and Putin.

“And we expect to continue to drive that pace,” he added.

Asked what types of concessions could be made, Rubio declined to offer any.

“We’re not going to pre-negotiate an end to this conflict,” Rubio was quoted as saying. “These are the kinds of things that have to happen through hard and difficult diplomacy and closed rooms over a period of time,” he added.

With inputs from agencies