In addition to the settlement teams, Washington and Moscow agreed to establish a consultation mechanism to address “irritants” in bilateral relations with “with the goal of taking the necessary steps to normalize the operation of the respective diplomatic missions” and “lay the groundwork for future cooperation on issues of mutual geopolitical interest and historic economic and investment opportunities.”
After the bilateral talks, Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, told Reuters that U.S. and Russian officials had separate discussions on future economic cooperation, a spokesperson for the RDIF said.
Soon after the talks ended in Riyadh, an air raid alert began in Kyiv where local authorities announced the threat of incoming Russian ballistic missiles.
While Russia and the U.S. discussed Ukraine, Zelenskyy was in Turkey, where he opened the renovated Ukrainian Embassy in Ankara and met Erdoğan on Tuesday.
“In the past, Russia delivered ultimatum after ultimatum and offered no actual diplomacy to Ukraine. Instead, it invaded Ukraine and left us no other option but to fight back,” Zelenskyy said.
“Russia demanded we decrease the number of armed forces, recognize occupied territories, they wanted a pro-Russian government to take control” he said. “Now I sense a similar attitude already from representatives of Russia and the United States … talking about Ukraine without Ukraine.”
“Since we didn’t accept the ultimatums at the most difficult moment, where did people get a feeling Ukraine is going to accept it now?” he asked.
This story has been updated. Veronika Melkozerova contributed to this report from Kyiv.
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