Top diplomats from the United States and Russia met in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss ending the war in Ukraine and improving relations between Washington and Moscow. The Riyadh summit represents a monumental shift in U.S. policy after the Biden administration led an international effort to isolate Russia over its invasion and gave tens of billions in military aid to Kyiv. Participants included U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was not invited to attend and has said he won’t recognize a peace deal negotiated without his country. European leaders have also been sidelined. For more on these developments, we host a discussion between economist Jeffrey Sachs and foreign policy analyst Matt Duss.

“This is a war that never should have happened,” says Sachs, who faults “U.S. provocations” like the expansion of NATO for laying the groundwork for Russia’s invasion in 2022. In holding these talks directly with Russia, “the Trump administration, for the first time, is telling the truth about the fundamental causes of this war,” adds Sachs.

Duss says that while the U.S. has played a major role in the conflict, “Vladimir Putin is the one who chose to invade Ukraine.” He also emphasizes that Ukrainians themselves have agency and have been key players in events since the end of the Cold War, including their current defense against Russia. “It’s not just a story of unending U.S. villainy.”

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

This post was originally published on Radio Free.