The meeting in Riyadh a few days ago was meant to assess whether Russia truly wants to end the war in Ukraine. This was reported by the head of U.S. diplomacy, Marco Rubio, who had met with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in Saudi Arabia. “I cannot yet answer the question of whether they are serious about peace,” said the U.S. Secretary of State in an interview broadcast on the social network X, “the only thing we agreed on is that we will talk about peace.” Rubio described as unfair the criticism from the United States’ traditional allies regarding Donald Trump’s decision to initiate contacts with Russia without consulting Kyiv or the European Union. The U.S. has spoken with the Ukrainians “throughout this process,” Rubio assured, adding, “I met with five EU foreign ministers” before and after the talks in Riyadh. Rubio also defended his administration from the criticisms launched at Trump by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “There should be some gratitude,” he said, and accusing President Trump of living “in a reality of misinformation,” as Zelensky did, “is very counterproductive.”