BBC Breakfast presenter interrupts programme for 'breaking news' announcement

During Tuesday's episode of BBC Breakfast, presenters Jon Kay and Sarah Campbell shared some urgent news at the start of the programme. Displaying a breaking news banner, Jon informed viewers about the commencement of preliminary talks aimed at resolving the conflict in Ukraine.

Providing further details, Sarah noted: "Talks between UK Secretary of State Marco Rubio and senior Russian officials about a peace settlement in Ukraine are due to begin in Saudi Arabia in around an hour from now (6am)."

Jon followed up with more context, stating: "On the American side, Marco Rubio's officials have described the talks as a first step to see if Russia is serious, but not as the start of negotiations to end the war."

The audience also learnt that Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, arrived in Riyadh on Monday night with his team. However, Jon highlighted that Sergey considered the discussion as part of normalising relationships between Russia and the US.

The show then switched over to Tom Bateman, the BBC's Washington correspondent based in Riyadh, who provided additional insights on the matter, reports the Express.

He reported: "Marco Rubio's officials are describing this as a first step towards seeing whether Russia is, in their words, 'serious' about talks going ahead to end the war.

"But they are playing this down as any kind of formal start to negotiations. I have to say that the message incoming from the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and his delegation as they landed here in Riyadh last night was very different.

"They are framing this as effectively a start of the normalisation of relations between the US and Russia."

The BBC correspondent drew attention to President Donald Trump's 90-minute phone call last