National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and the special envoy of the Middle East Steve Witkoff are directed to Saudi Arabia to start negotiations towards peace between Russia and Ukraine, two sources familiar with the matter to NBC News said.
The time of the trip was not specified, and it is not clear if Waltz and Witkoff have already left.
The measure occurs a few days after President Donald Trump said he spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the possibility of starting negotiations to end the war.
“We agreed to work together, very closely, even visit the nations of others,” Trump wrote in a real social position on Wednesday after the call. “We have also agreed that our respective teams begin negotiations immediately.”
The senior officials of the Trump administration, including vice president JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the special envoy of the United States of Ukraine Keith Kellogg, have been curly in Germany this weekend for the Munich Security Conference , a forum for international security policy where Russia-Ukraine war remains a critical issue of discussion.
On Saturday, Kellogg defended the possibility of committing to Putin in an effort to achieve peace between Russia and Ukraine, saying in Munich: “You like it or not, you have to talk to the adversaries.”
“As a great secretary of Defense, General Mattis once said: I can’t like this son of a B —-, but I have to talk to him,” he added.
Kellogg also said at the conference on Saturday that Western leaders should do more to enforce sanctions against Russia, and added that negotiations on ending war could focus on Russia’s willingness to give up territory and point to Putin oil income.
But some members of the administration have seemed reluctant in recent days to specify any particular concession of Russia before possible negotiations.
When asked on Thursday, what should give Russia to reach an agreement with Ukraine, Trump refused to appoint details.
“As for negotiation, it is too early to say what will happen. Maybe Russia renounces a lot, maybe they won’t, and everything depends on what happens, “Trump said during a press conference along with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, who has pointed out that the United States would oppose Ukraine that would join NATO as part of a negotiated peace, indicated that the United States will probably support negotiations in which the territory of Ukraine Cedes that already already He has been seized by the Kremlin.
“We want, like you, a sovereign and procrat Ukraine. But we must begin by recognizing that returning to the borders prior to 2014 of Ukraine is an unrealistic objective, “Hegseth said in a speech during a trip to the NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday.
