US officials plan to use Tuesday’s meeting with a Ukrainian delegation in Saudi Arabia partly to see whether Ukraine is ready to make concessions to Russia to end the war, according to two US officials, on Monday, the 10th of March, reports Reuters.
The US delegation will also observe whether Ukrainians are serious about improving relations with the Trump administration after a meeting last month between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy turned ugly, one of the officials said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Jeddah for bilateral talks with Ukrainian officials led by Andriy Yermak, an adviser to Zelenskyy.
“YOU CAN’T SAY ‘I WANT PEACE’ AND ‘I REFUSE ANY COMPROMISE’,” SAID ONE OF THE US OFFICIALS ABOUT THE UPCOMING TALKS.
“We want to understand whether the Ukrainians are interested not only in peace, but in real peace,” said another official. “If they are only interested in the 2014 or 2022 borders, that says something.”
Trump expressed optimism about the talks. “I believe we will make a lot of progress this week,” he told reporters.
Zelenskyy said in a video address overnight that he would travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday to “continue to work for peace”.
He added that he hoped the talks between his team and US officials would yield results.
“This applies both to moving closer to peace and to continuing support,” said Zelenskyy.
Trump has expressed frustration with Ukraine in recent weeks, saying the country lacks troops and resources and needs to quickly come to the negotiating table with Russia.
His administration has also stopped arms shipments and intelligence exchanges, accusing the Ukrainians of not being open enough to a potential peace.
TRUMP SAID ON SUNDAY THAT THE US MIGHT SOON RESUME INTELLIGENCE EXCHANGES.
Critics say Trump’s moves threaten to prolong the war by strengthening Russia’s position and thus undermining their willingness to lay down arms and reach a fair peace agreement.
Russian troops are advancing slowly but steadily in eastern Ukraine, while the thousands of Ukrainian soldiers who invaded Russia’s Kursk region are almost under siege.
National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said that Zelenskyy had made progress in restoring relations with the US after a tense meeting with Trump, referring to Trump’s comments on receiving a letter from Zelenskyy in his recent address to Congress.
Hughes added that the upcoming meeting in Saudi Arabia could bring further progress towards ending the war.
Middle East envoy Witkoff said publicly earlier this week that he hoped the talks would discuss a “framework” for a potential ceasefire and peace agreement.
At the same time, Jeddah will address the US-Ukraine mineral agreement, in which Kiyv wants to include US security guarantees in exchange for access to minerals in Ukraine. The agreement was not signed at the White House after a dispute between the two leaders, but both countries have expressed their willingness to sign it.
Trump said on Sunday that he believed Ukraine would agree to sign, but that he wanted the Zelenskyy government to show that it really wanted peace.
“They will sign the minerals deal, but I want them to want peace… They have not shown it to the extent that they should,” he said.