Top diplomats from the United States and Russia are sitting down to have talks over how to end the fighting in Ukraine in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh on Tuesday. The ongoing war was triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago.

The US delegation includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff. Russian representatives, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov, who is foreign affairs adviser to President Vladimir Putin, arrived in Riyadh on Monday night.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the talks will be focused on preparing for a possible summit between Putin and US President Donald Trump, as well as future talks on Ukraine.

Ushakov noted that what is important is whether the two sides can agree on how to start talks over Ukraine.

Speaking on a CBS News program on Sunday, Rubio noted that the US side will determine whether Russia is serious about solving the conflict. He added, "a process towards peace is not a one-meeting thing. This war has been going on for a while. It's difficult, it's complicated."

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters on Monday that Ukraine will not take part in the talks in Riyadh, adding that Ukraine did not know anything about them. He said, "We cannot recognize any things, any agreements about us made without us, and will not recognize such agreements."