Riyadh (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State reaches Saudi Arabia ahead of expected discussions with Russian officials seeking to end the three-year war in Ukraine.
The discussions come after President Donald Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone and called top officials to start negotiations on the fight, which he repeatedly promised to finish during his presidential campaign.
Saudi Arabia, which is also engaged in discussions with the US over the future of the Gaza Strip, has played a part in early connections between the Trump administration.
How does Marco Rubio intend to conclude the war?
Rubio, who talked by phone with his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will be engaged with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia alongside Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz and White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
He stated the forthcoming weeks and days would decide whether Putin was serious about making peace.
“One phone call does not make peace,”
Rubio stated on CBS program “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
“One phone call does not solve a war as complex as this one, but I can tell you that Donald Trump is the only leader in the world that could potentially begin that process.”
He also said:
“I said yesterday that ‘peace’ is not a noun, it’s a verb. It’s an action. You have to take concrete steps toward it.”
Why is Zelenskyy shocked by the planned Saudi meeting?
On the other hand, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy expressed shock over the planned gathering in Saudi Arabia, despite the fact that the US side earlier stated Ukraine was invited.
“I saw that someone said that there would be a meeting in Saudi Arabia. I do not know what it is,”
Zelenskyy stated on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
Zelenskyy is also in the UAE for a visit that was scheduled earlier. He stated he also wants to visit Turkey and Saudi Arabia but does not intend to engage with U.S. or Russian officials
