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00:00After more than four hours of talks with their Russian counterparts in Riyadh, the US delegation
00:06said the two sides had made the first step on a long and difficult journey to ending
00:10the war in Ukraine, albeit one without Kiev's blessing.
00:14I came away today convinced that they are willing to begin to engage in a serious process
00:20to determine how and how quickly and through what mechanism can an end be brought to this
00:25war.
00:27It's been an extraordinary about-face in American foreign policy since Russia's 2022 invasion
00:32of Ukraine.
00:33The US Secretary of State said Washington and Moscow also agreed to restore staffing
00:38at their respective embassies and explore geopolitical and economic cooperation.
00:44The key that unlocks the door for those opportunities, however, is the end to this conflict.
00:48The American delegation said both Ukraine and Russia would need to make concessions.
00:53There is going to be some discussion of territory and there's going to be discussion of security
00:59guarantees.
01:00The Russian foreign minister, meanwhile, pronounced the talks very useful.
01:05We did not just listen but heard each other and I have reason to believe that the American
01:10side has become more understanding of our position.
01:14Their position included, he said, opposing any deployment of NATO nation troops to Ukraine
01:20as part of an eventual ceasefire.
01:25Deployment of armed troops from NATO countries under any different flag, under an EU flag
01:29or under national flags, doesn't change anything.
01:32It's unacceptable to us.
01:36Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy slammed the fact that Kyiv and other key European
01:41players in the conflict had been excluded from the first talks.
01:45The American delegation accepted that they would have to have a seat at the negotiating
01:49table at some point.