The US and Russia have met in Saudi Arabia to begin negotiations on ending the Ukraine war. The high level meeting, led by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, was the first since Moscow's full-scale invasion three years ago. Also in the programme: Israel pulls out of villages in southern Lebanon as part of its ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah, but leaves some hilltop outposts in a move the UN says violates the deal; and as the first legal challenge to an action by the Trump administration reaches the US Supreme Court - will it shift the limits of the president's powers? (IMAGE: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (R) and Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov (2-R) attending a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (2-L), US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz (3-L) and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff (L), Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Saudi National Security Advisor Mosaad bin Mohammad Al-Aiban at Diriyah Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 18 February 2025. / CREDIT: Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
Hello and welcome to NewsHour.
It's coming to you live from the BBC World Service Studios in central London.
I'm Tim Franks.
It looks, if you head to the front page of our BBC News website,
it looks just like any other meeting of any top officials in any posh boardroom
at pretty much any point in the last goodness knows how many years.
Men in suits on executive chairs sitting either side of a polished table.
But this is at the same time an extraordinary picture because of who the men are,
where they are and what they're discussing.
Marco Rubio, the brand new US Secretary of State,
across that polished table from Sergei Lavrov, the long serving Russian foreign minister.
They're in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
And just days after President Trump held his 90 minute phone call with President Putin,
Americans and Russians spent more
than four hours discussing @ a very senior level how to bring the war in Ukraine,
the war which Russia started with its full scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago,
how to bring that war to an end.
After the talks, the three man American delegation led,
as I said, by Marco Rubio, spoke to reporters.
For three years, while this conflict has raged,