 "US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz hold talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief of staff Andriy Yermak, and Ukrainian Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov in the presence of Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan and National Security Advisor Mosaad bin Mohammad Al-Aiban, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, March 11, 2025. (Photo: Reuters)")
US and Ukrainian officials have started their talks in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah.
A US delegation led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio is holding talks on Tuesday with a Ukrainian delegation led by Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Ukrainian delegation is expected to present a proposal for a partial ceasefire stopping aerial and maritime fighting. The two sides are also expected to discuss the suspended US military aid and intelligence-sharing.
The US-Ukraine talks come after the bilateral relations plunged to a new low last month when US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance cornered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and berated him for stressing the importance of security guarantees and critcising Russian leader Vladmimir Putin for invading Ukraine.
After humiliating and kicking out Zelenskyy from the White House, Trump punished Ukraine with the suspension of military aid and intelligence-sharing. The US crackdown on Ukraine has coincided with renewed Russian assaults in Kursk province and Ukraine’s Sumy region.
While Trump had always been critical of the support to Ukraine, he has turned completely hostile in recent weeks and has falsely accused Ukraine of starting the war, called Zelenskyy a “dictator”, and said Zelenskyy does not war. Instead, he has said that Putin wants peace. Trump’s realignment of the United States has rattled Ukraine and rest of the Europe for whom Russian aggression has become the gravest security crisis since the World War II.
In Jeddah, Zelenskyy said earlier that he was hopeful for the revival of “pragmatic” ties with the United States.
“We hope for practical outcomes. Ukraine’s position in these talks will be fully constructive,” said Zelenskyy on X.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsOn the other hand, Rubio has declared that Ukraine will need to cede territory to Russia for a peace deal. While he has set the requirement for Ukraine, he did not say anything about Russia except for a passing remark without even naming the country.
This is part of the US alignment with Russia where the Trump administration is exercising all available all available pressure on Ukraine, the defender, ranging from the suspension of aid and intelligence-sharing to calling for Zelenskyy’s ouster as the President of Ukraine, but has demanded nothing from Russia, the aggressor.
“We have to understand the Ukrainian position and just have a general idea of what concessions they’d be willing to make, because you’re not going to get a ceasefire and an end to this war unless both sides make concessions…The Russians can’t conquer all of Ukraine, and obviously it’ll be very difficult for Ukraine in any reasonable time period to sort of force the Russians back all the way to where they were in 2014,” said Rubio.