U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that ending Russia’s war in Ukraine would require concessions from all sides.

When asked about sanctions against Russia, Rubio noted that the measures were imposed as a result of Russia’s invasion and that it’s not just the U.S. that has imposed them.

He said: "The European Union is going to have to be at the table at some point because they have sanctions as well that have been imposed."

The top diplomats from Russia and the U.S. met Tuesday in Saudi Arabia to discuss improving ties and negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine — talks that reflected a major and rapid change in American foreign policy under President Donald Trump.

No Ukrainian officials were present at the meeting, which came as the beleaguered country is slowly but steadily losing ground against more numerous Russian troops in a grinding war that began nearly three years ago. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country won’t accept any outcome from this week’s talks if Kyiv doesn’t take part. European allies have also expressed concerns they are being sidelined.

Beyond Ukraine, the meeting — attended by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other senior officials — had been expected to focus on thawing relations between the two countries, whose ties have fallen to their lowest level in decades.

Improving Russian-US relations

In an interview with The Associated Press after the meeting, Rubio said the two side agreed broadly to pursue three goals: to restore staffing at their respective embassies in Washington and Moscow, to create a high-level team to support Ukraine peace talks, and to explore closer relations and economic cooperation.

Both embassies have been hit hard by expulsions of large numbers of diplomats over the course of several years as relations soured and the U.S., along with European nations, imposed a raft of sanctions on Russia. The allies have repeatedly expanded the measures to damage its economy.

"Should this conflict come to an acceptable end, the incredible opportunities that exist to partner with the Russians geopolitically on issues of common interest and frankly, economically on issues that hopefully will be good for the world and also improve our relations in the long term," Rubio said.

His remarks were further evidence of the remarkable U.S. reversal on Russia after years in which Trump’s predecessor led international efforts to isolate Moscow.

Tuesday’s meeting was meant to pave the way for a summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. After the talks wrapped, Putin’s foreign affairs advisor, Yuri Ushakov, told Russia’s Channel One that no date has been set yet for that summit but that it was "unlikely" to take place next week.

Ushakov’s remarks suggested the two sides made little progress. Russia and the United States agreed to "take each other’s interests into account” and advance their relations. He added that it was “hard to say” that the two countries’ positions “are getting closer, but there was talk about it."

Previously, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the talks would be primarily focused on "restoring the entire range of U.S.-Russian relations, as well as preparing possible talks on the Ukrainian settlement and organizing a meeting of the two presidents." U.S. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce has said the meeting was aimed at determining how serious the Russians are about wanting peace and whether detailed negotiations can be started.

Meanwhile, Russia continued to pummel Ukraine with drones, according to Kyiv’s military. The Ukrainian air force said Russian troops launched a barrage of 176 drones at Ukraine overnight, most of which were destroyed or disabled by jamming.

One Russian drone struck a residential building in Dolynska in the Kirovohrad region, wounding a mother and her two children and prompting an evacuation of 38 apartments, the regional administration reported. Four more residential buildings were damaged by drone debris in the Cherkasy region of Ukraine, according to local officials.