Russia, US agree to work towards improving ties and ending Ukraine war

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Russia and the U.S. agreed Tuesday to start working towards ending the war in Ukraine and improving their diplomatic and economic ties, the two countries’ top diplomats said after talks that reflected an extraordinary about-face in U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump.

In an interview with The Associated Press, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the two sides agreed broadly to pursue three goals: to restore staffing at their respective embassies in Washington and Moscow, to create a high-level team to support Ukraine peace talks and to explore closer relations and economic cooperation.

He stressed, however, that the talks — which were attended by his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, and other senior Russian and U.S. officials — marked the beginning of a conversation, and more work needs to be done down the road.

Lavrov echoed Rubio's remarks and told reporters that “the conversation was very useful.”

“We not only listened, but also heard each other,” he said.

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 wouldn’t accept any outcome from the talks since Kyiv didn’t take part — and postponed his own trip to the kingdom scheduled for Wednesday.

European allies have also expressed concerns they are being sidelined.

Improving Russian-US relations

Ties between Russia and the U.S. have fallen to their lowest level in decades in recent years — a rift that has been widening ever since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and only worsened after Moscow's full-scale invasion.

The U.S., along with European nations, imposed a raft of sanctions on Russia in an effort to damage its economy. And embassies in Washington and Moscow have been hit hard by expulsions of large numbers of diplomats, as well as other restrictions.

Rubio said Tuesday that ending the war in Ukraine could “unlock the door” for “incredible opportunities that exist to partner with the Russians geopolitically on issues of common interest and frankly, economically on issues that hopefully will be good for the world and also improve our relations in the long term.”

His comments were further evidence of the remarkable U.S. reversal on Russia after years in which Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, led international efforts to isolate Moscow.

Tuesday’s meeting was meant to pave the way for a summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. After the talks wrapped, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told Russia’s Channel One that no date has been set yet for that summit but that it was “unlikely” to take place next week.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Lavrov mentioned the same three goals as Rubio and said that Washington and Moscow agreed to appoint representatives to carry out “regular consultations” on Ukraine.

“I have reason to believe that the American side has started to better understand our position” the Russian foreign minister said.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, who accompanied Rubio at the talks together with U.S. national security adviser Mike Waltz, said the meeting was “positive, upbeat, constructive. Everybody was there to get to the right outcome.”

The meeting marked the most extensive contact between the two countries since Moscow’s Feb. 24, 2022, invasion. Lavrov and then-U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked briefly on the sidelines of a G-20 meeting in India nearly two years ago, but tensions remained high.

Concerns from allies they are being sidelined

The recent U.S. diplomatic blitz on the war has sent Ukraine and key allies scrambling to ensure a seat at the table amid concerns that Washington and Moscow could press ahead with a deal that won’t be favorable to them.

Kyiv’s absence at Tuesday’s talks has rankled many Ukrainians , and France called an emergency meeting of European Union countries and the U.K. on Monday to discuss the war. Kyiv’s participation in such talks was a bedrock of U.S. policy under Biden.

Rubio said Tuesday that ending the conflict would require concessions from all sides and that Europe would play a part — noting that they have also imposed sanctions on Russia. He said Washington “is not going to predetermine" would those concessions would be.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, second left, meets with Saudi, U.S. and Russian officials at Diriyah Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that NATO membership for Ukraine was unrealistic and suggested Kyiv should abandon hopes of winning all its territory back from Russia — two key items on Putin’s wish list .

Waltz said “the practical reality is that there is going to be some discussion of territory, and there’s going to be a discussion of security guarantees."

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday said he spoke by phone to Trump and Zelenskyy following Monday's European meeting.

“We seek a strong and lasting peace in Ukraine,” Macron wrote on social media platform X. “To achieve this, Russia must end its aggression, and this must be accompanied by strong and credible security guarantees for the Ukrainians,” he said and vowed to “work on this together with all Europeans, Americans, and Ukrainians.”

The meeting at the Diriyah Palace in the Saudi capital of Riyadh also highlights de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts to be a major diplomatic player, burnishing a reputation severely tarnished by the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi .

Saudi state media described the talks as happening at the prince’s direction. Like the neighboring United Arab Emirates, the prince has maintained close relations to Russia throughout its war on Ukraine, both through the OPEC+ oil cartel and diplomatically as well.

Saudi Arabia has also helped in prisoner negotiations and hosted Zelenskyy for an Arab League summit in 2023.

But Zelenskyy postponed his own trip to Saudi Arabia scheduled for this week, suggesting that he wanted to avoid his visit being linked to the talks since Ukrainian officials weren't invited. He visit was rescheduled for March 10.

Meanwhile, Russia continued to pummel Ukraine with drones, according to Kyiv's military. The Ukrainian air force said Russian troops launched a barrage of 176 drones at Ukraine overnight, most of which were destroyed or disabled by jamming.

One Russian drone struck a residential building in Dolynska in the Kirovohrad region, wounding a mother and her two children and prompting an evacuation of 38 apartments, the regional administration reported. Four more residential buildings were damaged by drone debris in the Cherkasy region of Ukraine, according to local officials.

Litvinova reported from Tallinn, Estonia. Associated Press writers Baraa Anwer in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.

沙特阿拉伯利雅得——俄罗斯和美国周二同意开始努力结束乌克兰战争，并改善两国的外交和经济关系。两国最高外交官在会谈后表示，此次会谈反映了美国总统唐纳德·特朗普领导下的美国外交政策发生了非同寻常的180度大转弯。

美国国务卿马可·卢比奥在接受美联社采访时表示，双方大致同意追求三个目标：恢复各自驻华盛顿和莫斯科大使馆的人员配备；组建一个高级别团队支持乌克兰和平谈判；以及探索更紧密的关系和经济合作。

但他强调，此次会谈——俄罗斯外长谢尔盖·拉夫罗夫以及其他俄罗斯和美国高级官员出席了会谈——标志着对话的开始，未来还需要做更多的工作。

拉夫罗夫赞同鲁比奥的说法，并告诉记者“这次谈话很有帮助”。

他说：“我们不仅倾听，而且也听懂了对方的话。”

没有乌克兰官员出席此次会议。此时，这个饱受战火蹂躏的国家在与人数更多的俄罗斯军队的旷日持久的战争中，正缓慢但稳步地节节败退。这场战争始于近三年前。

俄罗斯总统泽连斯基表示，由于基辅没有参与，俄罗斯不会接受任何会谈结果，并推迟了原定于周三访问俄罗斯的行程。

欧洲盟友也表达了对被边缘化的担忧。

改善俄美关系

近年来，俄罗斯和美国之间的关系跌至数十年来的最低点——自 2014 年俄罗斯从乌克兰吞并克里米亚以来，两国裂痕一直在扩大，而莫斯科的全面入侵更是加剧了这一裂痕。

美国与欧洲国家一道，对俄罗斯实施了一系列制裁，试图削弱其经济。驻华盛顿和莫斯科的大使馆也遭受重创，大量外交官被驱逐，并受到其他限制。

鲁比奥周二表示，结束乌克兰战争可以“打开一扇门”，带来“与俄罗斯在共同关心的地缘政治问题上开展合作的绝佳机会，坦率地说，也可以在经济问题上开展合作，希望这些合作对世界有益，并从长远来看改善我们之间的关系”。

他的言论进一步证明了美国对俄政策的显著转变，此前多年，特朗普的前任乔·拜登一直领导着国际社会孤立莫斯科的努力。

周二的会晤旨在为特朗普和俄罗斯总统普京的峰会铺平道路。会谈结束后，普京的外交事务顾问尤里·乌沙科夫告诉俄罗斯第一频道，峰会日期尚未确定，但“不太可能”在下周举行。

会后，拉夫罗夫在接受记者采访时提到了与卢比奥相同的三个目标，并表示华盛顿和莫斯科同意任命代表就乌克兰问题进行“定期磋商”。

俄罗斯外长表示：“我有理由相信，美方已经开始更好地理解我们的立场。”

美国特使史蒂夫·威特科夫陪同卢比奥与美国国家安全顾问迈克·沃尔兹一同参加了会谈。威特科夫表示，会谈“积极向上、富有建设性。每个人都希望达成正确的结果。”

此次会晤是自莫斯科2022年2月24日入侵阿富汗以来，两国之间接触最为广泛的一次。近两年前，拉夫罗夫和时任美国国务卿安东尼·布林肯曾在印度举行的二十国集团峰会期间进行过短暂会谈，但当时两国关系依然高度紧张。

盟友们担心他们被边缘化

美国最近就这场战争发起的猛烈外交攻势，让乌克兰及其主要盟友争相确保自己在谈判桌上占有一席之地，因为他们担心华盛顿和莫斯科可能会强行推进一项对他们不利的协议。

基辅缺席周二的会谈激怒了许多乌克兰人，法国周一召集欧盟国家和英国举行紧急会议，讨论乌克兰战争。基辅参与此类会谈一直是拜登执政时期美国政策的基石。

鲁比奥周二表示，结束冲突需要各方做出让步，欧洲也将发挥作用——他指出，欧洲也对俄罗斯实施了制裁。他还表示，华盛顿“不会预先决定”这些让步的具体内容。

美国国务卿马可·卢比奥（左二）周二在沙特阿拉伯利雅得的迪里耶宫会见了沙特、美国和俄罗斯官员。（Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP）

美国国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯上周表示，乌克兰加入北约是不现实的，并建议基辅放弃从俄罗斯手中夺回所有领土的希望——这两项都是普京愿望清单上的重点。

沃尔兹说：“实际情况是，双方会就领土问题进行一些讨论，也会就安全保障问题进行讨论。”

法国总统马克龙周二表示，在周一的欧洲会议之后，他与特朗普和泽连斯基通了电话。

“我们寻求乌克兰实现牢固而持久的和平，”马克龙在社交媒体平台X上写道。“为了实现这一目标，俄罗斯必须停止侵略，并且必须为乌克兰人民提供强有力的、可信的安全保障，”他表示，并誓言“与所有欧洲人、美国人和乌克兰人共同努力”。

在沙特阿拉伯首都利雅得的迪里耶宫举行的这次会议也凸显了实际领导人王储穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼努力成为一位重要的外交人物，以挽回因 2018 年《华盛顿邮报》记者贾迈勒·卡舒吉遇害而严重受损的声誉。

沙特官方媒体称，此次会谈是在王子的指示下进行的。与邻国阿联酋一样，王子在俄罗斯入侵乌克兰期间一直与俄罗斯保持着密切关系，这种关系既体现在欧佩克+石油输出国组织框架内，也体现在外交渠道上。

沙特阿拉伯也曾协助进行囚犯谈判，并于 2023 年接待泽连斯基出席阿拉伯联盟峰会。

但泽连斯基推迟了原定于本周访问沙特阿拉伯的行程，这表明他希望避免此次访问与会谈扯上关系，因为乌克兰官员并未受邀。他的访问已重新安排在3月10日。

与此同时，据基辅军方消息，俄罗斯继续使用无人机猛烈攻击乌克兰。乌克兰空军称，俄罗斯军队连夜向乌克兰发射了176架无人机，其中大部分被摧毁或因干扰而失效。

据基洛沃格勒州政府报告，一架俄罗斯无人机击中了多林斯卡的一栋居民楼，造成一名母亲和她的两个孩子受伤，并导致38户居民疏散。另据当地官员称，乌克兰切尔卡瑟州的四栋居民楼也遭到无人机碎片损坏。

利特维诺娃从爱沙尼亚塔林报道。美联社记者巴拉·安维尔（沙特阿拉伯利雅得）、乔恩·甘布雷尔（阿拉伯联合酋长国）、伊利亚·诺维科夫（乌克兰基辅）和西尔维·科贝特（巴黎）对本报告做出了贡献。