The United States and Russia agreed on Tuesday to address "irritants" to the U.S.-Russia relationship and begin working on a path to end Russia's war in Ukraine, the State Department said, making clear the effort was in its early stages, Reuters reported.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. national security adviser Mike Waltz and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met for 4.5 hours with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Saudi Arabia as a follow-up to U.S. President Donald Trump's telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.

According to CNN, Rubio said the US and Russia agreed on four principles including appointing a high-level team to help “negotiate and work through the end of the conflict in Ukraine” in a way that’s “acceptable to all the parties engaged.” 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not invited to the talks, said Ukraine will not “give in to Russia’s ultimatums” and earlier said he would refuse to sign any agreement negotiated without Kyiv’s involvement.

Meanwhile, US national security adviser Mike Waltz said that the talks to end Russia’s war in Ukraine will involve discussions of territory and security guarantees.

“We know just the practical reality is that there is going to be some discussion of territory and there’s going to be discussion of security guarantees. Those are just fundamental bases that will, that will undergird and underlie any type of discussion,” Waltz said after talks with Russian officials in Riyadh.

Asked whether the US would find it acceptable for Russia to retain Ukrainian territory it has annexed since launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Waltz said this is “to be discussed.”

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Left to right - US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud, National Security Advisor Mosaad bin Mohammad al-Aiban, the Russian president's foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov, and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attend a meeting together at Riyadh's Diriyah Palace