Russia, Ukraine take 'significant first step toward peace' after Rubio-led negotiations, White House insists

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Trump holds calls with Putin, Zelenskyy in bid to end war in Ukraine

Lt. Col. Bob Maginnis (ret.) says peace is possible as negotiations involving the Trump administration to end the war are expected to begin in the coming days or weeks.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he believes he can end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine after meetings between U.S. and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia.

However, Trump also appeared to take a swipe at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for not ending the war sooner after Zelenskyy made remarks about Ukraine not being involved in those discussions. Trump also appeared to suggest that Ukraine started the conflict, even though Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

"I think I have the power to end this war, and I think it's going very well. But today I heard, 'Oh, we weren't invited,'" Trump said Tuesday at his Florida Mar-a-Lago estate. "Well, you've been there for three years. You should have ended it three years [ago]. You should have never started it. You could have made a deal." 

Trump also said that Russia wasn't the only one exerting pressure to force Ukraine to hold an election. One of Russia's conditions for signing a peace deal includes Ukraine holding an election, nearly a year after Zelenskyy's five-year term was slated to end. 

Zelenskyy has remained in his position leading Kyiv because the Ukrainian constitution bars holding elections under martial law. Ukraine has been under martial law since February 2022. 

Still, Trump signaled that the U.S. and other nations support an election. 

"That's not a Russia thing," Trump said. "That's something coming from me and coming from many other countries also, you know. Ukraine is being … just wiped out."

Initial discussions between Trump administration officials and Russia in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday marked a "significant milestone" in securing peace between Russia and Ukraine, according to the White House press secretary. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff met in Riyadh with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs advisor Yuri Ushakov to hash out ways to end the conflict. Ukraine was absent from the negotiations in Saudi Arabia. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to provide specifics about the discussions, but she said the Trump administration was committed to brokering a peace deal to end the conflict between the two countries. 

"What I will tell you is that today sitting down at the table was a significant first step toward peace," Leavitt told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.

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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Trump administration was committed to brokering a peace deal to end the conflict. (Evan Vucci/Associated Press)

Zelenskyy said during a joint press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an on Tuesday that an invitation to the talks wasn’t extended to Ukraine and that he was postponing a scheduled trip to Saudi Arabia until March. 

Zelenskyy has stressed that Ukraine must be involved in negotiations and said Sunday that Ukraine wouldn’t accept a peace deal if his country was absent from negotiations. 

But Leavitt said everyone would have a seat at the negotiating table — including other European allies — as the Trump administration seeks to advance a peace deal. 

"We're ensuring that all parties are heard," Leavitt said in an interview with Fox News' "America Reports" on Tuesday. "But you have to speak to both sides of the war in order to truly negotiate a deal and problem-solve. And this is a significant first step toward peace."

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio, center, is shown with National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, right, and U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff during a meeting with Russian officials in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 18, 2025. (The Associated Press)

Leavitt said Trump was in correspondence with Zelenskyy and spoke with other European allies like French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday. She also said Trump will meet with United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House next week. 

Trump and Zelenskky also spoke over the phone Wednesday about the negotiations, and Zelenskyy said he relayed that he believes Putin isn’t interested in peace with Ukraine.

"I said that [Putin] is a liar," Zelenskyy said in an interview with NBC’s "Meet the Press" that aired Sunday. "And he said, 'I think my feeling is that he's ready for these negotiations.' And I said to him, 'No, he's a liar. He doesn't want any peace.'"

While Zelenskyy voiced gratitude for U.S. support, he said there is no "leader in the world who can really make a deal with Putin without us, about us." 

"I will never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia about Ukraine," Zelenskyy said on "Meet the Press." 

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Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy, President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin (Getty Images)

But Trump has offered reassurances that Zelenskyy would be involved in peace conversations and told reporters Sunday on the tarmac at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, that Ukraine would get a seat at the negotiating table. 

The first action the U.S. plans to take after the meetings with Russian officials is to "reestablish the functionality of our respective missions in Washington and in Moscow," Rubio told reporters from the Associated Press and CNN. 

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"For us to be able to continue to move down this road, we need to have diplomatic facilities that are operating and functioning normally," Rubio said, according to a State Department transcript. 

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and Trump vowed on the campaign trail in 2024 that he would work to end the conflict if elected again.

Fox News’ Emma Colton and Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.