Trump senior officials are expected to meet senior Russian officials to start talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, according to several sources.
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff should go to Saudi Arabia for the meeting with senior Russian officials, two sources familiar with Tell plans CNN.
One of the sources said that the meeting will take place in the coming days.
The sources have refused to say which Russian officials would be present, but CNN previously reported The Kremlin brings together a high-level negotiation team to engage in direct talks with the United States, including political, intelligence and high-level economic figures, and Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian official who played a key role behind the scenes in a role in a Recent release of American prisoners.
The president of the Chamber’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Mike McCaul, also confirmed the plans during an interview with Politico at the Munich Security Conference, saying: “Rubio and Waltz and Witkoff (are) sent in Arabia to speak to the Ukrainians and the Russians on Ukraine. ”
The State Department had previously announced that Rubio would go to Saudi Arabia in the coming days as part of a larger trip to Munich and the Middle East. He must land in Israel on Saturday.
President Donald Trump indicated earlier this week That he could meet the Russian president Vladimir Putin in Saudi Arabia in the “not too far future”, but warned that no official decision had been made.
Key context: The conference in Munich was imbued with uncertainty about how the Trump administration will approach war in Ukraine. A Telephone call between Trump and Putin This week, fears that kyiv will be frozen for negotiations, and Trump’s envoy for the conflict said today that European negotiators will not be involved in talks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that a meeting of Trump-Putin which took place before Zelensky could sit with the President could be “dangerous”.
Also today: Rubio received a telephone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the appeal had been retained “on the initiative of the American team”.
Reading the call from the US State Department said it was a continuation of Trump-Putin’s call, and that Rubio reaffirmed the American commitment to end the war in Ukraine.
This message has been updated with additional details on talks.