Senior executives of Trump’s government are going to meet with senior Russian officials to start chats with the aim of ending war in Ukraine, according to many sources.

As two sources who know the plans told CNN National Security Advisor Mike ValtsForeign Minister Marco Rubio and Middle East envoy Steve Whitkov are expected to travel to Saudi Arabia to meet with senior Russian officials. One of the sources told CNN that the meeting would take place in the coming days but refused to say which Russian officials would participate.

The Kremlin is expected to gather a high -level negotiating team to participate in direct talks with the US, including senior policies, financial executives and Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian official who played a key role in a recent US release agreement.

President Donald Trump said earlier this week that negotiations on ending the almost three -year war in Ukraine will begin “immediately” after a “long and extremely productive” telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Their communication, which was the first well -known conversation between the presidents from taking off Trump’s duties last month, came as Trump makes it clear to his advisers that he wants to end the conflict in Ukraine quickly.

Trump showed earlier this week that he could meet Putin in Saudi Arabia in the “not too distant future”, but warned that no official decision had been made. “We believe that they will probably meet in Saudi Arabia, the first meeting,” Trump said after talking to Putin on Wednesday.

The President said Saudi Arabia’s successor Mohammed bin Salman would play a role in discussions. Whitkov also said that Saudi Arabia’s successor contributed to the release of unjustly prisoner American Marc Fogel this week.

The State Department had previously announced that Marko Rubio would travel to Saudi Arabia in the coming days as part of a longer trip to Munich and the Middle East. Rubio, who landed in Israel on Saturday, had a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier on the same day, the State Department said in a statement.

The Russian Foreign Ministry described the Lavrov-Rubio conversation as “a mutual commitment to cooperation on current international issues, including resolving the situation around Ukraine”, as well as the crisis in the Middle East. The two agreed to maintain regular contact, including preparation for a high -level Russian -American meeting, the ministry said.

Rubio’s call comes as Trump’s envoy to Russia-Ukraine, Keith Kloge, said on Saturday that Moscow should make concessions to end the war in Ukraine.

The concessions will mainly concern territorial issues and possibly the resignation of violence, Kalogk said in a panel at the Munich Security Conference.