Volodymyr Zelenskyy restated that Ukraine would not accept any peace terms signed without it, as important Russian and US leaders are about to meet in Saudi Arabia to discuss the continuing war in Ukraine.
“Ukraine regards any negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine as ones that have no result, and we cannot recognise … any agreements about us without us,” Zelenskyy said on Monday. Zelenskyy made the comment as Russian and American diplomats visited Riyadh before the talks on Tuesday, which aim to end Moscow's almost three-year war against Ukraine, though Kyiv and European countries were not invited for the talks. Zelenskyy also confirmed that Ukraine would not join the talks. “Ukraine did not know anything about it,” he said.
The quick move to set up the US-Russia negotiations came on the heels of last week's telephone conversation between ex-President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in which they weighed opening talks for the war's termination. Riyadh will host the first in-person meetings between the two countries' top officials in years after there was a marked worsening of ties following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The two nations are both dispatching senior delegations, underscoring the importance of the negotiations, which have the potential to clear the way for a Trump-Putin summit within this month.
Some of Trump's closest advisors, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who traveled to Saudi Arabia on Monday, will be part of the US delegation, along with Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.
Moscow stated that President Putin had sent his top foreign policy envoy, Yuri Ushakov, and veteran Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to the talks in Saudi Arabia.
The Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said the meeting “will be devoted to the preparation of possible negotiations on the Ukrainian settlement and the organisation of a meeting between the two presidents”.
In remarks quoted by Tass news agency on Monday morning, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated that Russia did not intend to make any territorial concessions to Ukraine in the course of the peace negotiations.
Russia declared the annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, including territories that were still out of its control at the time, in September 2022.
Lavrov said Moscow would hear out “its US colleagues” but added that Europe “has no place at the negotiating table”.
Similarly from Riyadh will come representing Russia, Kirill Dmitriev, chief of Russia's sovereign wealth fund and financier on whom there is a US imposed sanction. Dmitriev has also been cited as one of Putin's daughter's closest aides.
“A heavyweight Russia delegation is departing for Riyadh … All are loyal and trusted insiders,” the liberal commentator Alexei Venediktov wrote on his telegram channel.
In a United Arab Emirates video briefing on Monday, in which he was on a state visit, Zelenskyy said he would visit Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. But he emphasized that the visit had nothing to do with Russian-US peace negotiations.
“So, once again, my visits have nothing in common with those talks. Although when I arrive in Saudi Arabia I will ask his majesty what he knows about the topics of the talks,” Zelenskyy added.
On Monday, Zelenskyy further stated that Trump's special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, would be coming to Kyiv on Thursday. Zelenskyy said he wanted to take Kellogg on a joint tour to the frontline, and they would meet with Ukraine's commander-in-chief, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi.
Zelenskyy underscored that Europe should be part of the negotiations and represented by a person with universal respect on the continent. He did not exclude China's involvement but made it absolute that only those granting security guarantees against Russian aggression should participate.
Kellogg, Trump's most Ukraine-friendly adviser but one whose influence has been declining, acknowledged his intentions to travel to Ukraine. At the headquarters of NATO in Brussels on Monday, he emphasized that Kyiv would not be pushed into any peace agreement.
On Sunday, Trump hinted that Zelenskyy would engage in the talks but did not specify at which level or if Ukrainian officials would actually attend Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia was instrumental in early talks between Moscow and the Trump administration, having brokered a prisoner exchange last week. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained the venue was chosen as it was convenient for everyone.
The haste of the talks has raised fresh alarm in Europe, which was left out of the negotiations.
On Saturday at the Munich Security Conference, Kellogg warned European officials they would be asked for their views, but be excluded from being included in Russia, Ukraine, and US discussions.
The quick developments shut them out in response, which led French President Emmanuel Macron to hold an emergency summit in Paris with other EU leaders.
“We feel like we’re constantly left in the dark,” a senior European official told the Guardian, commenting on this week’s talks. “At the moment, we’re running behind the news. Our goal now is to show what we can bring to the table.”
In spite of the fervent diplomatic activity, information on Trump's peace plan for Ukraine is still scarce, as is Russia's intention to participate in the negotiations.
Yuri Ushakov, Putin's chief foreign affairs aide, downplayed expectations about the negotiations scheduled for Monday by reminding everyone that Moscow and Washington have yet to define the platform for peace talks on Ukraine. He further observed that Washington had not yet identified a chief negotiator who will deal directly with Russia.
He added that the discussions in Riyadh would centre on “agreeing on how to initiate negotiations to resolve the Ukrainian conflict”.
The US has repeatedly indicated that it would want European peacekeepers to be used in Ukraine if there is a ceasefire or peace treaty—a proposal which is now being debated by European leaders.
On Sunday, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he would consider sending British soldiers to Ukraine if a peace pact with Russia was attained to bring about an end to the conflict.
While Russia has long been against the presence of European troops in Ukraine, Moscow appeared to soften its tone on Monday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the situation "complex," marking a change in tone.
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