The U.S. and Russia agreed to more talks on resolving the war in Ukraine and finding ways to work together on other international issues, but set no date for a summit meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.The two sides ended more than 4 hours of negotiations in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, on Tuesday with a pledge to appoint high-level teams to work “on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible in a way that is enduring, sustainable, and acceptable to all sides,” according to a U.S. State Department readout.They also agreed to “address irritants” in U.S.-Russia relations to restore the work of their diplomatic missions, and to “lay the groundwork for future cooperation on matters of mutual geopolitical interest” once the war ends, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said they discussed a summit between Trump and Putin but it was unlikely to take place next week.“It’s hard to say yet that we’re getting closer, but there was a conversation,” Ushakov said of the U.S. and Russian positions after the meeting, according to the state-run Tass news agency.Ushakov and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov represented the Kremlin at the talks that included White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan was also present.Trump is determined to “move very quickly” on securing a permanent settlement in Ukraine, Waltz said in a briefing by the U.S. side. Rubio said he was convinced Russia’s willing to engage “in a serious process” on Ukraine, while Witkoff called the meeting a “very, very solid session.”The talks followed Trump’s landmark phone call with Putin last week in which he reversed key U.S. positions on the war that Russia started in February 2022. The discussions didn’t involve anyone from Ukraine, fueling concerns about a rapid push for a deal by the two powers that may leave both Kyiv and the U.S.’s European allies on the sidelines.“One phone call followed by one meeting is not sufficient to establish enduring peace,” Bruce said. “We must take action, and today we took an important step forward.”Trump described last week’s 90-minute call with Putin as “highly productive” and said they’d likely meet in Saudi Arabia. It was the first publicly announced contact between the Russian leader and a U.S. president since Putin ...
