US, Russian officials to meet in Saudi Arabia to negotiate end of war Ukraine not invited

Officials from the United States and Russia will meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to push forward discussions on ending the war in Ukraine, according to multiple reports.National security adviser Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff are all expected to travel to the Middle East kingdom for the meeting with unnamed senior Russian officials set to take place next week, according to Reuters.Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky said that his beleaguered nation had not been invited to the negotiating table, The Guardian reports.European powers are also being excluded from the talks, Reuters reports.Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone on Saturday ahead of the meetings — which will set the table for negotiations on Ukraine and more, according to reports.President Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, had some harsh words for European leaders at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.“To my European friends, I would say: ‘Get into the debate, not by complaining that you might, yes or no, be at the table, but by coming up with concrete proposals, ideas, ramp up spending,” Kellogg said to the leaders who will be sitting on the sidelines for the upcoming negotiations.Vice President JD Vance had his first face-to-face meeting with Zelensky while on his ongoing trip to Europe.The veep characterized the conversation as “fruitful” and reiterated the Trump administration’s commitment to achieving “a durable, lasting peace” in Europe.Earlier this week, Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said it was unlikely that Ukraine would return to its pre-2014 borders with Russia and would also likely not become a member of NATO — which has been a point of contention in both domestic and international politics.Last week, Donald Trump had a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which resulted in a co-commitment from the leaders to visit each other’s nation...