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The Trump administration’s push for negotiations without Ukrainian involvement leaves European allies with no clear role.While American officials prepared on Sunday for the start of talks with Russia over ending the war in Ukraine, European leaders were moving to formulate a response to President Trump’s rapid push for a settlement that appeared to leave them and Ukrainian officials with no clear role in the process.The Russian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, where the talks are to take place this week, met Sunday with the kingdom’s foreign minister. Two senior Trump administration officials — Mike Waltz, and the Middle East envoy, Steve...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz and special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff are planning to head to Saudi Arabia to initiate negotiations toward peace between Russia and Ukraine, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News. Witkoff told Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" that he is traveling to Saudi Arabia with Waltz on Sunday night. -snip- Two U.S. officials confirmed that Ukraine was not invited to the talks in Saudi Arabia, but say the intention is for the U.S. to host a bilaterial with Russia, then a bilateral with Ukraine and then...

The Foreign Ministry of Saudi Arabia confirmed on Friday it is interested in hosting a summit between President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the near future after Trump floated the possibility. President Trump held a phone conversation with Putin on Wednesday in which the two agreed to meet in person on at least one occasion, followed by a phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Both talks focused on plans to end the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began during former President Joe Biden’s term after Biden lifted Trump-era sanctions on a proposed pipeline connecting...

The momentum for peace negotiations is much faster than even the most hopeful among us was expecting, and it seems like every day another historical milestone is achieved. Today, it arises that the Saudi Foreign Ministry publicly welcomed the telephone conversation between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and announced that it is ready to host a meeting between Trump and Putin on its territory. Trump expects to meet Putin in Saudi Arabia ‘in the not-too-distant future’, but later clarified he will not be meeting Putin next week in Saudi Arabia, despite online speculation. No specific date...

May 6, 2005 The Return of the Soviet Union by David Satter When President Bush ascends the reviewing stand in Red Square on May 9 for ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, he may find that his presence is being used less to mark a historic anniversary than to rehabilitate the Soviet Union. The anniversary has unleashed a wave of nostalgia for the Soviet Union. A report by the RIA press agency said, "all the veterans agree that the great love that the Soviet people had for their country and their belief in the righteousness...