U.S. and Russian officials held more than four hours of talks in Riyadh on Tuesday, their first on ending the war in Ukraine, as Kyiv and its European allies watched anxiously from the sidelines and Moscow raised a major new demand.

While U.S. officials characterized the talks as the first step in a peace deal, the Russians are portraying them as a way to end Moscow’s isolation.

The United States and Russia began preparations for a summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin during high-level negotiations on Tuesday, Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said.