The scheduled trip was unrelated to the Feb. 18 meeting between top U.S. and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy postponed his scheduled visit to Saudi Arabia on Feb. 18.
Speaking earlier on Tuesday in Turkey, Zelenskiy said he had postponed his visit to the kingdom, which was originally planned for Wednesday, until March 10, saying he did not want “any coincidences.”
The decision follows a Feb. 18 meeting between top U.S. and Russian officials in Riyadh to discuss a negotiation framework for ending the Russia-Ukraine war—six days before the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The meeting, mediated by the Saudis, resulted in the United States and Russia agreeing to high-level negotiations to end the war, increasing staffing at the U.S. embassy in Russia and the Russian embassy in Washington, and improving economic relations between the two nations.
The U.S. team consisted of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, while the Russian delegation included Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who is under U.S. sanctions, and Yuri Ushakov, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine was not present at the meeting.
Related Stories
“President [Donald] Trump wants to stop the killing; the United States wants peace and is using its strength in the world to bring countries together. President Trump is the only leader in the world who can get Ukraine and Russia to agree to that,” said State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce in a statement.
“One phone call followed by one meeting is not sufficient to establish enduring peace. We must take action, and today we took an important step forward,” she added.
Lavrov said “the conversation was very useful” and that the two sides “not only listened but also heard each other.”
Zelenskyy has previously said that Ukraine would not accept any peace deal without being involved in negotiations.
European leaders met in Paris on Feb. 17 amid concerns about the Trump administration’s posture on Ukraine—such as saying that NATO membership is not in Kyiv’s future and that taking back land that Russia seized is unrealistic.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
