The meeting between the US and Russia on Tuesday at the Diriyah Palace in the Saudi capital of Riyadh also highlights de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's efforts to be a major diplomatic player, burnishing a reputation severely tarnished by the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The comments came as talks between Russian and US officials in Saudi Arabia ended - part of a remarkable US policy reversal after years of President Joe Biden leading international efforts to isolate Moscow.
But the recent US diplomatic blitz on the war has sent Mr Zelenskyy and key European allies scrambling to ensure a seat at the table amid concerns that Washington and Moscow could press ahead with a deal that will not be favourable to Ukraine.
US and Russian officials have agreed to restore embassy staffing and establish a high-level team to negotiate peace in Ukraine - another sign of the significant American change in diplomatic relations with Moscow.
Ties between Russia and the US had fallen to their lowest level in decades in recent years - a rift that had been widening since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and worsened after Moscow's full-scale invasion in 2022.
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