- The Trump team to include security adviser Mike Waltz besides Rubio.
- Trump officials did not reveal time and venue for peace talks.
- Rubio called Russian colleague Sergei Lavrov on Saturday.
WASHINGTON: A high-level delegation from US President Donald Trump’s administration is set to begin crucial discussions in Saudi Arabia with Russian and Ukrainian officials aimed at medating a cessation of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, US officials said on Saturday.
State Secretary Marco Rubio, White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Trump’s Middle East -Dealer Steve Witkoff travels to Saudi Arabia for the discussions, the officials confirmed.
The move comes just days after Trump announced that he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time since returning to Embed, and that they had agreed to initiate conversations about a ceasefire in Ukraine.
The officials did not provide any further information about when the meetings would take place or when the delegation would travel.
However, Rubio was already scheduled to visit Saudi -Arabia as part of his first tour of the Middle East, which began on Saturday when he arrived in Israel, a AFP journalist reported.
Earlier Saturday, Rubio held a phone call with his Russian colleague Sergei Lavrov, “confirming President Trump’s obligation to find an end to the conflict in Ukraine,” the Ministry of State said.
Former real estate developer Witkoff played a significant role in a prisoner exchange agreement earlier this week, which paved the way for the call between Trump and Putin.
Witkoff even traveled to Moscow to bring home American retained Marc Fogel.
In a social media post that announced the call with Putin earlier this week, Trump declared that he was assigned to Rubio, Waltz, Witkoff and CIA chief John Ratcliffe to immediately start working on an agreement with Russia to end Ukraine – the war.
However, Kyiv and its European allies were captured by Trump’s sudden steps to start negotiations with Russia.
Both fears are excluded from discussions about the future of Ukraine following the largest land invasion in Europe since World War II.
