 "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with US counterpart Donald Trump at the White House. File image/AP")
US officials are set to meet their Ukrainian counterparts today (March 11) in Saudi Arabia.
The development comes in the aftermath of the disastrous interaction between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump during a White House visit in February.
The US delegation will also be looking for signs that the Ukrainians are serious about improving ties with the Trump administration, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Jeddah to hold bilateral talks with Ukrainian officials led by Andriy Yermak, a top aide to President Zelenskyy.
He will be accompanied by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.
“We’re going to make a lot of progress, I believe, this week,” Trump said.
The US president expressed optimism about the talks.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy said that he would travel to Saudi Arabia to “continue to work for the sake of peace.”
But Saudi Arabia is an unusual venue for talks aimed at smoothing over relations after the blowup.
The Kingdom under its assertive Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been positioning itself as an ideal location for possible peace negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow.
Ahead of the today’s talks, here’s all that you should know about the meeting.
What is the reason for the talks?
The meeting in Saudi Arabia comes on the heels of a tense Oval Office conversation involving Zelenskyy, Trump and US Vice President JD Vance. The conversation got so heated that it led to a 10-minute confrontation in front of journalists.
Trump expressed his frustration with Zelenskyy, stating, “You’re gambling with World War III, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country.”
As a result of the disagreement, Zelenskyy left the White House without finalising a deal that would have allowed the US access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals.
The agreement was crucial for Kyiv, as it aimed to secure ongoing US military support amid its fight against Russia.
Where are the talks set to take place?
The talks between Ukraine and US will take place in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah, as per Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry
However, it remains unclear why the talks will be held in Jeddah after earlier being held in Riyadh on February 18.
It must be noted that Jeddah has hosted other diplomatic engagements in the past and is home to several royal palaces.
The Foreign Ministry said the kingdom would continue to pursue ‘a lasting peace to end the Ukrainian crisis.’ The ministry said, “The kingdom has continued these efforts over the past three years by hosting many meetings on this matter.”
Who will be the attendees at the talk?
Zelenskyy will be coming to Saudi Arabia .
He had delayed the trip as he was travelling to the neighbouring United Arab Emirates, which also has been considered as a possible venue for peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow.
“We continue working on the relevant steps with our partners who want peace, who want it just as much as we do,” Zelenskyy said Friday. “There will be a lot of work here in Europe, with America in Saudi Arabia — we are preparing a meeting to accelerate peace and strengthen the foundations of security.”
Zelenskyy announced online that a delegation consisting of his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha, and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who accompanied him to Saudi Arabia, will participate in the discussions.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will head the American team for the Ukrainian negotiations and is scheduled to meet with MBS.
Sybiha also spoke on Friday with Rubio ahead of the talks. Sybiha described it as a “constructive call." A two-sentence readout from the State Department said Rubio “underscored President Trump is determined to end the war as soon as possible and emphasized that all sides must take steps to secure a sustainable peace.”
Trump himself sounded upbeat on Air Force One on Sunday when speaking to journalists. “I think you’re gonna have eventually — and maybe not in the distant future — you’re gonna have some pretty good results coming out of Saudi Arabia this week,” Trump said.
Why are talks taking place in Saudi?
In the past two years, MBS has reached a détente with Iran, hosted Zelenskyy for an Arab League summit and been involved in negotiations over the wars in Sudan and the Gaza Strip.
Riyadh also maintained ties to Russia through the OPEC+ oil cartel while Western nations levied sanctions against it. That’s reasserted the role the Kingdom long has perceived itself as having — being the leader of the Sunni Muslim world and a dominant force in West Asia.
Hosting Russia-US talks, possibly drawing Trump to the Kingdom for his first foreign trip in this term through investments and other possible meetings only raise Saudi Arabia’s profile further as a neutral territory for high-stakes negotiations.
Saudi Arabia’s autocratic government, compliant media and distance from the war also allow for talks to take place in a tightly controlled country with relative privacy.
What does this mean for war and wider world?
Trump remains focused on reaching some kind of peace deal to stop the war. His approach toward Ukraine so far has relied far more on stick than carrot — limiting their access to intelligence and weaponry. While conciliatory toward Putin, Trump recently also threatened new sanctions against Russia over its ceaseless attacks on Ukrainian cities.
If Ukraine and the US reach some sort of understanding acceptable to Trump, that could accelerate his administration’s push to talks. However, the rest of Europe remains sceptical as they have been sidelined from the talks. The European Union last week agreed to boost the continent’s defences and to free up hundreds of billions of euros for security.
With inputs from AP