Rubio heads to Saudi Arabia for direct talks with Russians over Ukraine

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Russian officials in Saudi Arabia (Evelyn Hockstein, Pool Photo via AP)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is leading a delegation to Saudi Arabia for direct talks with Russian officials in the coming days to seek an end to Moscow’s near three-year-old invasion of Ukraine, a US official said on Sunday.

Also expected to take part in the talks in Riyadh is national security adviser Michael Waltz and special envoy Steve Witkoff, according to the official, who was not authorised to discuss the talks and spoke on the condition of anonymity.