As talks between the US and Russian delegations come to an end in Saudi Arabia, US Secretary of State Department Marco Rubio said that the end to the Ukraine conflict must be acceptable to everybody involved, including Ukraine and Europe. 

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Rubio stressed that no one is being sidelined here. "End to Ukraine conflict must be acceptable to all involved, including Ukraine, Europe and Russia."

The European Union needs to be involved at some point, the US State Secretary said. 

"Goal is a fair, enduring, sustainable end to Ukraine war," Rubio said after the four-hour talks concluded in Riyadh. 

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Also read: Ukraine peace talks LIVE: 'Emergency Summit' begins in Paris ahead of US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia

He further stressed that everyone involved in the Ukraine conflict has to be okay with a solution to end it. 

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday (Feb 18) hosted breakthrough US-Russia talks to discuss ways to end the Ukraine war and strengthen American-Russian relations. However, Ukraine was not part of the talks, with President Volodymyr Zelensky saying that no peace agreement can be reached without Kyiv's presence.

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EU will be at the table at some point

Rubio said that the European Union is 'going to have to be at the table' in Ukraine talks. 

The US Secretary of State added that the European nations would have to be involved in talks on ending the Ukraine war. 

"There are other parties that have sanctions (on Russia), the European Union is going to have to be at the table at some point because they have sanctions as well," said Rubio.

Also read: Trump’s team heads to Saudi Arabia for Ukraine peace talks with Russia, without Ukraine

Agreed to appoint high-level teams to end war 

Moreover, the two sides agreed to appoint high-level teams to begin working on the path to end Russia's war in Ukraine as soon as possible. 

US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said that the US-Russian delegation will work to end the Ukraine conflict in a way that is "enduring, sustainable, and acceptable to all sides." 

Bruce said that the US and Russia will also begin to look at "future cooperation on matters of mutual geopolitical interest and historic economic and investment opportunities," which will emerge from a successful end to the conflict in Ukraine. 

Also read: Trump’s team heads to Saudi Arabia for Ukraine peace talks with Russia, without Ukraine

"President Trump wants to stop the killing; the United States wants peace and is using its strength in the world to bring countries together," he said, adding that Trump is the only leader in the world who can get Ukraine and Russia to agree to that. 

'Agreed to address irritants'

The delegations of both nations agreed to "address irritants" to their bilateral relationship with the objective of taking steps necessary to normalise the operation of our respective diplomatic missions. 

Moreover, the spokesperson said, “The parties to today’s meetings pledge to remain engaged to make sure the process moves forward in a timely and productive manner." 

Also read: ‘No diktat on Ukraine’: Europe pushes back with ‘emergency meet’ as US sidelines Kyiv from talks to end war

Russia-US talks on Ukraine to start 'in due time'

Putin's foreign policy advisor, Yuri Ushakov, said that separate teams of Russian and US negotiators will begin contacts on Ukraine "in due time". 

Ushakov further stressed that the decision to begin contact with the US on Ukraine ultimately would be the call of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Trump-Putin meeting

On the Trump-Putin meeting in the coming future, Ushakov said, "We are ready for this, but it is still difficult to talk about a specific date for the meeting of the two leaders."

Riyadh talks 'went well'

Ushakov said that the talks in Saudi "went well" and was a serious conversation on all issues", Reuters reported, citing Interfax and TASS. 

He further said that the US and Russia agreed for negotiators to talk about Ukraine.

US, Russia agree to restore embassy staffing

US State Secretary said that Marco Rubio said that officials agreed to restore embassy staffing and create a high-level team to negotiate peace in Ukraine and promote economic cooperation.

Rubio said that actions over the last several years have reduced both countries’ diplomatic missions’ abilities to operate.

“We’re going to need to have vibrant diplomatic missions that are able to function normally in order to be able to continue these conduits," he said. 

Deployment of NATO troops in Kyiv 'unacceptable'

Russian foreign minister Sergiei Lavrov said that any deployment of NATO troops in Ukraine would be "completely unacceptable". 

Lavrov added that President Putin stressed more than once that NATO’s expansion and the absorption of Ukraine by NATO was a direct threat to the Russian Federation and our sovereignty. 

"We noted that President Trump was the first of western leaders to say that dragging Ukraine into NATO was one of the main [reasons behind] what is happening, one of Biden’s biggest mistakes. Had Trump been the president, that would have never happened," he said in a press conference offering the Russian view on Tuesday’s talks on Ukraine. 

(With inputs from agencies)