High-level meeting on peace talks, restoring relations between US and Russia sparks concern among European leaders.

The US and Russia are preparing to launch talks on ending the war in Ukraine, but Kyiv and Europe are wary [File: Genya Savilov/AFP]

The United States and Russia have confirmed that their top delegates will meet in Saudi Arabia this week to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, in a move that has sparked concern among European leaders left out of the US push for talks.

Senior US and Russian officials will travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday, the US Department of State and the Kremlin confirmed. They will meet in Riyadh the next day in an effort to lay the groundwork for peace talks, the two sides said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov, a foreign policy adviser to President Vladimir Putin, were due to travel, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

They will meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, the State Department said.

The confirmation comes just days after US President Donald Trump said he and Putin had agreed in a phone call to begin negotiations to end the war, raising alarm about what role Ukraine and its European allies would have in the effort.

Trump’s announcement also has spurred concerns that the US president could hand concessions to Russia, and that Europe’s security architecture and its defence partnership with the US could be weakened.

Peskov said this week’s meeting in Saudi Arabia “will be dedicated to possible negotiations on a Ukrainian resolution and organising a meeting between the two presidents”.

Following reports that Trump could meet Putin in Saudi Arabia, the Republican leader said at the weekend that such a meeting could happen “very soon”.

US President Donald Trump, right, said over the weekend that a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, could happen ‘very soon’ [File: Reuters]

The Reuters news agency, quoting Peskov, reported that the meeting on Tuesday will focus on “restoring the whole complex of Russian-American relations”.

Russia’s sovereign wealth fund chief Kirill Dmitriev will also reportedly join the meeting.

Meanwhile, Rubio – the US secretary of state – said on Sunday that Tuesday’s meeting would seek to open a broader conversation that “would include Ukraine and would involve the end of the war”.

“A process towards peace is not a one-meeting thing,” he told the US television network CBS.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would not take part in the Saudi Arabia-based talks or recognise any potential agreement reached in Kyiv’s absence.

However, Zelenskyy said he would visit Saudi Arabia separately on Wednesday and that he planned to ask Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for updates on the talks.

Turkish officials said Zelenskyy would visit Turkiye on Tuesday upon the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In a statement on X, Turkish government spokesman Fahrettin Altun said Zelenskyy and Erdogan would discuss ways to improve cooperation and bilateral ties, the latest developments in Ukraine as well as regional and global issues.

Reporting from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford said there was “real concern” among the Ukrainian leadership that they were being sidelined.

“There is a gradual realisation that reality has changed now” and that a return to Ukraine’s pre-war borders is unrealistic, Stratford said.

Alarm among European leaders

Meanwhile, European leaders were due to meet in Paris to discuss their response to Washington’s shocking policy shift on Ukraine, which has seen Kyiv and its European allies sidelined.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Europe’s security was at a “turning point”.

“Yes, it is about Ukraine – but it is also about us,” she said as she arrived at the emergency meeting. “We need an urgency mindset. We need a surge in defence. And we need both of them now.”

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he would urge European leaders in Paris to “immediately” boost Europe’s defences, warning they do not match Russia’s.

“We will not be able to effectively help Ukraine if we do not immediately take practical steps regarding our own defence capabilities,” Tusk told reporters before flying to Paris.

“If Europe, and that’s the case today, is not able to counter Russia’s military potential, then we must catch up immediately.”

Trump has announced that he intends to talk “peace in Ukraine” directly with Putin, who unleashed a full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine three years ago. US officials confirmed over the weekend that they do not expect Europe to be involved.

Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler, reporting from Paris, said there was “a real sense of urgency” among European leaders gathered in the French capital.

“It has become clear that the transatlantic partnership is no longer strong at all,” Butler said. “They see the US has already stepped away and they are very scared that what is agreed between Trump and Putin could have an impact on the future of Europe’s security.”

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, pictured with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has hit out at US President Donald Trump for sidelining Kyiv and Brussels [File: AP Photo]

Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, has suggested that Moscow is happy with Trump’s approach, stating that discussions on European participation in talks on a settlement in Ukraine would be premature.

Lavrov also said he saw no reason for Europeans to take part in ceasefire talks, accusing them of wanting to “continue war” in Ukraine.

“I don’t know what they would do at the negotiating table,” he said during a news conference in Moscow. “If they are going to sit at the negotiating table with the aim of continuing war, then why invite them there?”

Before the informal summit in France, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said European leaders will discuss how to prevent a peace negotiation from ending up rewarding Russian aggression.

“A war of aggression cannot be rewarded. We cannot encourage others to launch wars of aggression,” he said in an interview with the Onda Cero radio station. “Today I’m convinced Putin will keep attacking and bombing Ukraine, so I do not see peace on the horizon at the moment.”

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas last week warned Trump against “any deal behind” the backs of Ukraine or Europe and accused him of “appeasement”.