The US president says he's "disappointed", after Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed surprise his country was not invited to Tuesday's talks in Saudi Arabia.

Among the veteran diplomats and national security advisers gathering for top-level talks between the U.S. and Russia, Harvard-educated Kirill Dmitriev cut a distinct figure this week. As Moscow seeks to match the Washington team’s dealmaking lineup,

U.S. and Russian officials met in Riyadh to discuss ending the Ukraine conflict. The discussions were deemed positive by Kirill Dmitriev of Russia's sovereign wealth fund. Dmitriev joined the Russian delegation meeting U.

U.S.-Russia relations have gone from nowhere to close engagement in a week, since Donald Trump called Vladimir Putin ahead of a putative summit.

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.