The United States and Russia will begin talks on the Ukraine crisis in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, CNN reported on Sunday.
The US is expected to be represented at the talks by the Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. According to the China Media Group (CMG), Russia is assembling a high-level negotiating team consisting of senior political, intelligence and economic officials. The identity of the Russian officials who will attend the talks has not yet been confirmed.
A Saudi official told CNN that the country will play a mediating role and will also host the talks. The Saudi team is to be led by the country's national security adviser.
Ukrainian and European representatives were not invited to the meeting in Saudi Arabia. According to Keith Kellogg, the Trump administration's envoy for Russia and Ukraine, will, however, hold "two-track" talks in Kiev this week.
On Sunday, the American president Donald Trump said that the Ukrainians would be involved in the negotiations, and Rubio said that if the initial talks were moving in a positive direction, both Ukraine and Europe would participate.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is currently in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) negotiating economic cooperation. He is expected to visit Saudi Arabia soon, where he will sign economic agreements with various countries in the region, Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy said on Sunday Julia Svyrydenko.
Just days before Svyrydenko's announcement, Zelensky told reporters at the Munich Security Conference that he planned to visit Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Turkey, but had no plans to meet with any Russian or U.S. delegations in those countries. "I won't meet the Russians there and I won't meet the Americans there," He said.
While the US and Russia are preparing for the meeting, European officials are trying to adjust to US plans after Kellogg's announcement that Europe will not participate in the peace talks.
Kellogg argued that the failure of the new Minsk agreement, signed in 2015, was largely due to the lack of capacity of the negotiating parties to implement the peace process, and said the U.S. will not repeat the mistakes of the past. The parties involved in the 2015 Minsk Agreement negotiations were Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France.
In response, the European side immediately spoke out against it.
The Elysee Palace has announced that the French President Emmanuel Macron will meet on Monday with the Prime Ministers of Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark, as well as the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission and the Secretary General of NATO.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday said he was "ready and willing" to deploy British troops to Ukraine to enforce a peace deal if necessary. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Starmer called on European countries to increase their defence spending and "take a greater role in NATO", but stressed that US support remained crucial to securing peace.
Starmer also said he would meet with Trump and other G7 allies in the coming days to secure a firm agreement.
CMG/ gnews.cz - RoZ
PHOTO - X
English 
Czech 
Spanish 
French 
Italian 
Russian 
Chinese 
German