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Reuters

Saudi Arabia was set to host talks Tuesday between the United States and Ukraine after an argument erupted during President Volodymyr Zelensky’s February 28 visit to the White House.
US officials were planning to use the meeting in part to determine whether Kyiv was willing to make material concessions to Russia to end the war in Ukraine, according to two US officials.
The US delegation would also be watching for signs that the Ukrainians were serious about improving ties with the Trump administration after last month’s acrimonious meeting in the Oval Office, said one of the officials, who requested anonymity to preview the closed-door talks.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was headed to Jeddah for the bilateral talks with Ukrainian officials, who will be led by Andriy Yermak, a top Zelensky aide. Rubio was expected to be joined by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.

“You can’t say ‘I want peace’, and, ‘I refuse to compromise on anything’,” one of the US officials said of the talks.
“We want to see if the Ukrainians are interested not just in peace, but in a realistic peace,” said the other official. “If they are only interested in 2014 or 2022 borders, that tells you something.”
US President Donald Trump on Sunday expressed optimism about the talks. “We’re going to make a lot of progress, I believe, this week,” he told reporters travelling with him on Air Force One.
Zelensky said in his nightly video address that he would travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday to “continue to work for the sake of peace”.
Zelensky was expected to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose Saudi Arabia has played various mediating roles since Russia’s 2022 invasion, including brokering prisoner exchanges and hosting talks between Russia and the US last month.
Zelensky has said he would not attend Tuesday’s talks with US officials, but hoped that they would bring results.

“This concerns both, bringing peace closer and continuing support,” Zelensky said.
Ukraine’s European allies argue that Ukraine can only sign a deal with Russia from a position of strength and that Kyiv should not be rushed to the negotiating table with an aggressor.
Zelensky has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin does not want peace, and that Russia would attack other European countries if its invasion of Ukraine does not result in a clear defeat.
US officials met with Russian officials in the Saudi capital of Riyadh in February for separate bilateral discussions, which were focused largely on rebuilding a working relationship after a near-total freeze on official contact under former US president Joe Biden.
Trump has expressed frustration with Ukraine in recent weeks, saying the eastern European nation was running out of manpower and resources, and that it needed to quickly come to the table with Russia.
His administration has cut off weapons shipments and some intelligence sharing with Kyiv in recent days, with his administration accusing the Ukrainians of not being sufficiently open to a potential peace process.


Trump said on Sunday the United States had “just about” ended the suspension of intelligence sharing.
Critics say Trump’s moves risked prolonging the war by strengthening Russia’s hand and thus making the country less likely to lay down arms and strike an equitable peace deal.
Russian troops have been making slow but steady progress in eastern Ukraine, while thousands of Ukrainian troops who stormed into Russia’s Kursk region last summer were nearly surrounded.
In a statement, National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said Zelensky had made progress in restoring the US-Ukraine relationship following his last meeting with Trump.
He pointed to comments by Trump during his address to the US Congress earlier last week, when he said he had received a conciliatory note from the Ukrainian leader.
“With meetings in Saudi Arabia this coming week, we look forward to hearing more positive movement that will hopefully and ultimately end this brutal war and bloodshed,” Hughes said.




Witkoff, the Middle East envoy, has said that he hoped to discuss a “framework” for a potential ceasefire and peace deal during the talks.
Hanging over Jeddah was the fate of a minerals deal between the US and Ukraine, which Kyiv wants to include in a US security guarantee in exchange for access to certain mineral resources in Ukraine.
Zelensky and Trump had been slated to sign that accord during Zelensky’s Washington visit. But after the White House blow-up between the two men, it was not signed.
Since then, both sides have expressed a renewed willingness to sign the deal, but no signing has yet occurred. Trump said on Sunday he thought Ukraine would sign it, with a caveat that he wanted Zelensky’s government to show that it wanted peace.
“They will sign the minerals deal but I want them to want peace … They haven’t shown it to extent they should,” he said.
Additional reporting by Associated Press


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Ukraine war

US to assess Ukraine’s peace stance at crunch talks in Saudi Arabia

A soldier of the Alcatraz Battalion, made up of former Ukrainian convicts, participates in tactical infantry training. Photo: EPA-EFE

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Photo: AFP

A residential building damaged by Russian military strikes, in Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine. Photo: Reuters

Trump says ‘easier’ to work with Russia than Ukraine on peace talks

US President Donald Trump meets Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on February 28, 2025. Photo: Ukrainian Presidency/dpa

EU leaders agree to plan to ‘re-arm Europe’ as they rally behind Ukraine

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives for the EU Summit at the European Council building in Brussels. Photo: AP

European Council President Antonio Costa, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Photo: AFP

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in Brussels on Thursday. Photo: AP

Trump keeps pressure on Ukraine as Russia’s Putin weighs ceasefire with conditions

Ukrainian servicemen fire a self-propelled howitzer towards Russian troops near the town of Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, on February 28. Photo: Reuters

Demonstrators wear cardboard masks depicting US President Donald Trump (left) and Russia’s Vladimir Putin at a protest in Prague, Czech Republic, on March 7. Photo: Reuters

Ditched by the US, Europe must consider a ‘common home’ with Russia

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer (centre) hosts the European leaders’ summit to discuss Ukraine, at Lancaster House, London, on March 2. Photo: AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron meet at the funeral service of former French president Jacques Chirac, at the Saint Sulpice de la Madeleine Church in Paris, on September 30, 2019. Photo: Kremlin/dpa

A man walks in front of an office with an electronic panel displaying currency exchange rates against the Russian rouble, in Moscow, on February 6. Photo: EPA-EFE

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Top US and Ukrainian officials to meet for the first time since Zelensky’s disastrous White House visit last month


Top US and Ukrainian officials to meet for the first time since Zelensky’s disastrous White House visit last month.
