WASHINGTON, February 25. /TASS/. The United States expects to discuss at the next talks with Russia what Moscow is ready to do to settle the conflict in Ukraine, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with the Breitbart News outlet.

According to him, at the talks held in Riyadh, the Russian delegation made it clear that Moscow is interested in ending the conflict in Ukraine "under the right conditions." "We didn’t discuss what those conditions were. So the next step is to meet with them again at some point, with the right group of people in the room, and begin to outline what would it take for Russia to stop a war," Rubio said, emphasizing that the US "will ask Ukraine the same question."

The top US diplomat pointed out that Donald Trump would like the conflict in Ukraine to "end yesterday." "So whether it takes days or weeks or what have you, we’re going to begin that process," Rubio emphasized, admitting that "it may not work out."

The Russian and US delegations held talks in Riyadh on February 18, which lasted about four and a half hours. Russia was represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov, and CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz, and special envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff participated in the negotiations.

According to Ushakov, the delegations had a serious conversation on all the issues they wanted to address, including discussion of the rapprochement of the positions of Russia and the United States and contacts on Ukraine. He pointed out that it is not yet known who will be among the negotiators on the Ukrainian settlement, as this decision is up to the president. Lavrov called the meeting with Washington representatives very useful and said that Russia and the United States agreed to ensure the speedy appointment of ambassadors in both capitals. The State Department, for its part, said that Lavrov and Rubio agreed at the meeting to set up negotiating groups on Ukraine and on future cooperation on issues of common geopolitical interest.