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KATHMANDU. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to arrive in Saudi Arabia on Monday, a day before crucial talks between Ukrainian and US officials on Tuesday to end the war with Russia. The highly anticipated talks on Tuesday to resolve the three-year conflict will mark the first time US and Ukrainian officials have met since Zelensky’s failed visit to the White House last month.
Zelensky said he would meet the country’s de facto leader, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, on Monday and then his team would “sit down for a meeting with the US team on Tuesday.” US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said Washington wanted to “get a framework for a peace deal and an initial ceasefire” at the talks in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah. Zelensky said Ukraine was “fully committed to constructive dialogue” but wanted its interests “taken into account in the right way.”
“We expect results both in terms of bringing peace closer and in terms of continuing support,” he said in his speech on Sunday evening. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Jeddah on Monday, the US State Department said. US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz also confirmed his participation.
Zelensky said his interlocutors would include Foreign Minister Andriy Szybiga and Defense Minister Rustem Umarov, his chief of staff Andriy Yermak, and military commander and Yermak’s deputy Pavlo Palisa. He said Kiev was in constant contact with the US team. Washington has now suspended military aid to Ukraine, as well as intelligence sharing and access to satellite imagery, in an effort to force Moscow to the table, which launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 on the orders of President Vladimir Putin.
Trump has renewed communication with Putin and has continued to criticize Zelensky. This has raised fears among Kiev and European allies that Trump could force Ukraine to accept a deal that would benefit Russia.
But on Friday, Trump said he was considering further sanctions on Russia for “attacking” Ukraine on the battlefield. Ukraine’s European allies held a summit with Zelensky last week and announced a massive increase in defense spending. Britain and France have proposed a ceasefire in the sea and air for Ukraine and a halt to Russia’s bombing of Ukrainian power facilities.
Zelensky said Ukrainian and British diplomats held talks in Kiev over the weekend. The Saudi talks came after the Ukrainians walked away from a mineral deal demanded by the US leader due to a public spat between Zelensky and Trump at the White House.
Zelensky later called the incident “tragic” and said he was ready to work with Trump’s “strong leadership.” He also said he was ready to sign the Strategic Mineral Reserves agreement. Witkoff said Trump had received a letter from Zelensky, calling it “a very positive first step” and “an apology.” Asked whether Ukraine would sign the deal in Saudi Arabia, Witkoff said, “I think Zelensky has offered to sign it and we’ll see if he follows through.”
Witkoff visited Moscow in February to press for the release of a jailed American teacher and later said he had spoken to Putin at length and “developed a relationship” with him. Waltz was in the Oval Office during Zelensky’s controversial meeting with Trump and J.D. Vance.
He later told Fox News that Zelensky was “not ready to negotiate peace” but that “time is not on his side.” In an interview with CNN, Waltz said, “If Zelensky’s personal motivation or political motivation is different from ending the war… then I think we have a real problem.”
Saudi mediator
Saudi Arabia has become a key facilitator for US diplomacy with Russia and Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Rubio met in Riyadh last month to agree to resume dialogue and start talks on the Ukraine conflict. Zelensky has visited Saudi Arabia several times since Russia’s invasion in 2022, but canceled the trip last month after he was not invited to Russia-US talks.
In 2022, five prisoners held in Russian-controlled Ukraine were flown to Riyadh for an exchange after talks with the crown prince. Putin said the crown prince also helped secure the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Ivan Gershkovich, who Russia had jailed last year on “espionage” charges. The oil-rich kingdom, a historic US ally, became an international outcast after the killing of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey in 2018. But Witkoff said Trump’s team has a “really good relationship with the Saudis.”
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