Yesterday's meeting between US and Russian delegations in Saudi capital Riyadh is a leading topic in the Western press.
We must not forget Russian aggression, reads the headline of an editorial in the "Daily Telegraph".
US President Donald Trump's determination to end the war in Ukraine essentially gives a "blank check" in the hands of Moscow, the British publication points out.
After being isolated by the West for three years, Russian President Vladimir Putin's team returned to the international diplomacy table and held talks with American representatives.
The Russian delegation, led by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov - a man against whom sanctions have been imposed, spent more than four hours with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the meeting, which Saudi Arabia organized and hosted.
This meeting was not just about Ukraine, notes the "Daily Telegraph". The two countries want to revive their official diplomatic relations and resume trade with each other. The next step will be a meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin, which is expected to take place within weeks. Three years after the invasion, history is moving at lightning speed.
It seems that what Ukrainians think no longer matters, writes the "Daily Telegraph". Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia today, but he canceled his visit after being sidelined from talks about his country's future.
Moscow and Washington have agreed to fully restore diplomatic relations, the Independent reports, noting that six months ago such a development would have seemed unthinkable.
Russia and the United States shook hands yesterday to fully restore diplomatic relations and begin peace talks in Ukraine, cementing a remarkable shift in international politics under the Trump administration, the British publication notes.
"The Independent" notes that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio shook hands with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Riyadh yesterday, who was smiling. The British publication also focused on Rubio's words that ending the war could create "incredible opportunities for geopolitical partnership with Russia on issues of common interest and, frankly, in the economic sphere".
After the talks in Riyadh, which were the most comprehensive between the US and Russia in three years, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that an agreement had been reached to create a high-level team to deal with peace negotiations on Ukraine and to explore "the opportunities that could arise from a successful conclusion to the conflict in Ukraine", the newspaper wrote. "Guardian".
This is a dramatic break with the efforts of the Joe Biden government to isolate Moscow, the British daily notes.
The talks in the Saudi capital highlighted the rapid pace of US efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine, which has caused concern in Kiev and Europe.
The meeting in Riyadh is the first high-level attempt to negotiate an end to Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine since the early days of the war, when talks then collapsed.
Despite the diplomatic excitement, little is known about Trump's plan for peace in Ukraine or about Russia's willingness to engage, and yesterday's meeting did not provide many new details, the "Guardian" points out.
The US and Russia held their first talks on Ukraine without NATO allies and Kiev, the newspaper writes. "Washington Post".
While American officials characterized the talks as a first step towards a peace agreement, the Russians present them as a way to end Moscow's isolation.
The United States and Russia discussed the possibilities of partnership within the framework of a dizzying change in their relations, the "New York Times" reports.
The United States is ready to negotiate new relations with Russia without Europe and Ukraine, the French newspaper "Figaro" notes in connection with yesterday's meeting in Riyadh.