White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Trump administration was committed to brokering a peace deal to end the conflict between the two countries. (Evan Vucci/The Associated Press)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during a joint press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan 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 were absent from negotiations.
But Leavitt said that 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 New’s "America Reports" 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."
President Donald Trump (center), Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (right). (Alessandro Bremec/NurPhoto via Getty Images | Contributor/Getty Images | Scott Olson/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 following 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.
Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/russia-ukraine-take-significant-first-step-toward-peace-after-rubio-led-negotiations-white-house-insists