Zelensky hopes for ‘meaningful’ US-Ukraine talks next week
President Vodimir Zelensky said Ukraine talks will be held in Saudi Arabia next week and said he hoped it would be a “meaningful meeting.”
Ukrainian leader will be in the Gulf Kingdom but will not attend the talks, he said Kiev is working to achieve a “fast and lasting” peace.
Steve Witkoff, a special envoy for U.S. President Donald Trump, said the U.S. team wanted to discuss a “framework” of peace in an attempt to end the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Zelensky and Trump were caught in a public conflict at the White House last Friday – Trump said Zelensky was not ready to end the fight. The United States continues to stop military aid to Ukraine and stop sharing intelligence.
The Ukrainian president regrets the incident and tries to repair relations between the largest U.S. military supplier.
Witkoff said Thursday that Trump received a letter from Zelensky, which included an “apology” and “gratitude.”
“I hope we can get back on track with the Ukrainians and everything will be restored,” Vickov said.
Zelensky is under intense pressure to make concessions before any peace talks, while the Ukrainian president has been seeking corporate security assurances for Kyiv.
Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and now controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory.
Zelensky announced a series of negotiations held on social media in Saudi Arabia during a crisis summit in Brussels on Thursday. EU leaders recognized plans to promote defense spending.
“The Ukrainian and American teams have resumed their work and we hope we will have a meaningful meeting next week,” he wrote on X.
“Ukraine has been seeking peace since the first moments of the war, and we have always said that the war continues only because of Russia.”
Zelensky urges global communities to put more pressure on Moscow and therefore “accept to end” the war.
He also apparently mentioned the truce plan outlined by French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this week, which proposed a ceasefire in the air and at sea and ended attacks on energy and other civilian infrastructure.
Russia has not yet publicly commented on the French proposal.
Putin said on Thursday that Moscow is seeking peace and “will ensure peace in our country from a long-term perspective.
The Kremlin chief added: “We don’t need anything that belongs to others, but we won’t give up anything that belongs to us either.”
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said he hopes a “fair, lasting, binding peace agreement is acceptable.”
Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and claimed that four other Ukrainian regions in the southeast are their own – although Moscow does not have complete control over them.
Ukraine and its European allies have been shocked in recent weeks by many people who Donald Trump sees as Russia’s proposal.
Trump vowed to end the war quickly during the U.S. election, and held preliminary U.S.-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia last month – no representatives from Europe or Ukraine were present.
The U.S. decision to stop its military aid to Ukraine was announced by Trump administration officials to enable Kiev to cooperate with US-led peace talks.
No corresponding pressure the United States has been exerting in Moscow has been made public.
