Rubio: US and Russia agree to restore embassy staffing, create team to negotiate Ukraine peace

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00:00After more than four hours of talks with their Russian counterparts in Riyadh, the US delegation

00:06said the two sides had made the first step on a long and difficult journey to ending

00:10the war in Ukraine, albeit one without Kiev's blessing.

00:14I came away today convinced that they are willing to begin to engage in a serious process

00:20to determine how and how quickly and through what mechanism can an end be brought to this

00:25war.

00:27It's been an extraordinary about-face in American foreign policy since Russia's 2022 invasion

00:32of Ukraine.

00:33The US Secretary of State said Washington and Moscow also agreed to restore staffing

00:38at their respective embassies and explore geopolitical and economic cooperation.

00:44The key that unlocks the door for those opportunities, however, is the end to this conflict.

00:48The American delegation said both Ukraine and Russia would need to make concessions.

00:53There is going to be some discussion of territory and there's going to be discussion of security

00:59guarantees.

01:00The Russian foreign minister, meanwhile, pronounced the talks very useful.

01:05We did not just listen but heard each other and I have reason to believe that the American

01:10side has become more understanding of our position.

01:14Their position included, he said, opposing any deployment of NATO nation troops to Ukraine

01:20as part of an eventual ceasefire.

01:25Deployment of armed troops from NATO countries under any different flag, under an EU flag

01:29or under national flags, doesn't change anything.

01:32It's unacceptable to us.

01:36Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy slammed the fact that Kyiv and other key European

01:41players in the conflict had been excluded from the first talks.

01:45The American delegation accepted that they would have to have a seat at the negotiating

01:49table at some point.

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