Reports indicate that representatives from the United States and Russia are scheduled to convene in Saudi Arabia soon for talks aimed at resolving the conflict in Ukraine.

Among those anticipated to attend the meeting are National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. The discussions are expected to include high-level Russian officials, although their identities have not been disclosed yet.

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky said that his beleaguered nation had not been invited to the negotiating table, The Guardian reports.

European powers are also being excluded from the talks, Reuters reports.

Marco Rubio had a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday in preparation for the upcoming discussions. These talks will serve as a foundation for addressing not only the situation in Ukraine but also wider issues.

President Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, had some harsh words for European leaders at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

“To my European friends, I would say: ‘Get into the debate, not by complaining that you might, yes or no, be at the table, but by coming up with concrete proposals, ideas, ramp up spending,” Kellogg said to the leaders who will be sitting on the sidelines for the upcoming negotiations.

Vice President JD Vance had his first face-to-face meeting with Zelensky while on his ongoing trip to Europe.

The veep characterized the conversation as “fruitful” and reiterated the Trump administration’s commitment to achieving “a durable, lasting peace” in Europe.

Earlier this week, Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said it was unlikely that Ukraine would return to its pre-2014 borders with Russia and would also likely not become a member of NATO — which has been a point of contention in both domestic and international politics.

Last week, Donald Trump had a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which resulted in a co-commitment from the leaders to visit each other’s nations. 

The last sitting president to visit Russia was Barack Obama in 2013, when the then-prez attended the G-20 Economic Summit.

Obama visited Russia twice, while his predecessor George Bush visited seven times.