Preparations are underway for a face-to-face meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia’s deputy foreign minister said Saturday, marking a clear departure from Western efforts to isolate Moscow over its war on Ukraine.

“The question is about starting to move toward normalizing relations between our countries, finding ways to resolve the most acute and potentially very, very dangerous situations, of which there are many, Ukraine among them,” Sergei Ryabkov told Russian state media.

Ryabkov added that U.S. and Russian envoys could meet within the next two weeks to pave the way for further talks among senior officials. Russian and U.S. representatives meeting in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday agreed to start working toward ending the war in Ukraine and improving their diplomatic and economic ties, an extraordinary about-face in U.S. foreign policy under Trump. Senior U.S. officials have suggested Ukraine will have to give up its goals of joining NATO and retaining the 20% of its territory seized by Russia.

No Ukrainian officials were present at the Saudi meeting, which came as their beleaguered country is losing ground against more numerous Russian troops, nearly three years after Moscow launched an all-out invasion of its smaller neighbor.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country would not accept any outcome from the talks since Kyiv didn’t take part. European allies have also expressed concerns that they are being sidelined.

Trump: ‘It’s on the other side of the ocean’

Trump appeared to walk back earlier comments that falsely blamed Kyiv for starting the war, but insisted that Zelensky and former President Biden should have done more to come to terms with Putin.

“Russia attacked, but they shouldn’t have let him attack,” he said Friday during a radio interview with Brian Kilmeade of Fox News, referring to the Russian leader.

Russia’s army crossed the border on Feb. 24, 2022, in an all-out invasion that Putin sought to justify by falsely saying it was needed to protect Russian-speaking civilians in eastern Ukraine and prevent the country from joining NATO.

Later on Friday, at the Oval Office, Trump told reporters that the war “doesn’t affect the United States very much. It’s on the other side of the ocean. It does affect Europe.”

U.S. offers U.N. resolution far short of European statement on Ukraine

The United States has proposed a draft U.N. resolution that stops far short of a competing European-backed statement demanding an immediate withdrawal of all of Moscow’s forces from Ukraine. Both are timed to the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which falls on Monday, when the General Assembly will vote on the nonbinding resolutions.

The short U.S. draft resolution acknowledges “the tragic loss of life throughout the Russia-Ukraine conflict” and “implores a swift end to the conflict and further urges a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia.”

Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, told reporters that the U.S. resolution was “a good move.”

Russia suggested an amendment, so the final line of the U.S. resolution would read, “implores a swift end to the conflict, including by addressing its root causes…”

By contrast, the draft resolution from the European Union and Ukraine refers to “the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation” and recalls the need to implement all previous assembly resolutions “adopted in response to the aggression against Ukraine.”

It singles out the General Assembly’s demand that Russia “immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders” and its demand to immediate halt all hostilities.

Thousands march in London over Ukraine

Thousands of people waving blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags marched to the Russian Embassy in London on Saturday, demanding Ukraine be given more support and a place at the table in talks to end the three-year war.

Protesters chanted, “Trump, you’re no friend, you’re a traitor to Ukraine.” Organizers called for the withdrawal of Russian troops and increased military aid to strengthen Kyiv’s hand.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is due to visit Washington next week for talks focused on Ukraine. He has stressed that no decisions about the country’s future can be made without Kyiv’s involvement.

Starmer spoke to Zelensky on Saturday and reiterated “the U.K.’s ironclad support for Ukraine and commitment to securing a just and enduring peace to bring an end to Russia’s illegal war,” the prime minister’s office said.