The meeting between representatives of Russia and the United States in Saudi Arabia should not be seen as a step forward in negotiations on Ukraine, US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce has said.

The meeting scheduled for Tuesday, she said, is just the first step for the United States to assess how “serious” Moscow is about ending the war in Ukraine.

Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, who will represent Russia at the meeting in Riyadh along with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, also said that for now the two sides plan to “agree on how to start negotiations on Ukraine because the U.S. side has not yet appointed its chief negotiator.”

On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Kyiv did not know in advance about the meeting between the United States and Russia and that Ukraine would not recognize the agreements if they were adopted without its participation.