{"id":19122,"date":"2025-03-10T12:41:06","date_gmt":"2025-03-10T06:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/?p=19122"},"modified":"2025-03-10T12:41:06","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T06:56:06","slug":"ukraine-set-for-crucial-talks-with-us-on-ending-war-with-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/ukraine-set-for-crucial-talks-with-us-on-ending-war-with-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine set for crucial talks with US on ending war with Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is due to arrive in Saudi Arabia on Monday, a day ahead of crucial talks between Ukrainian and US officials on ending the war with Russia.<\/p>\n

Highly anticipated negotiations on Tuesday on resolving the three-year conflict will see US and Ukrainian officials meet for the first time since Zelensky’s disastrous White House visit last month.<\/p>\n

Zelensky said he would on Monday meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de facto leader, after which his team “will stay for a meeting on Tuesday with the American team”.<\/p>\n

At the talks in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has said Washington wants “to get down a framework for a peace agreement and an initial ceasefire as well”.<\/p>\n

Zelensky has said Ukraine is “fully committed to constructive dialogue”, but wants its interests to be “taken into account in the right way”.<\/p>\n

“We hope for results, both in terms of bringing peace closer and continuing support,” he said in his evening address on Sunday.<\/p>\n

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will fly to Jeddah on Monday, the US State Department said. Mike Waltz, US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, has also confirmed his participation.<\/p>\n

– ‘In constant contact’ –<\/strong><\/p>\n

Zelensky said his negotiators will include Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, his chief of staff Andriy Yermak and Pavlo Palisa, a military commander and Yermak’s deputy.<\/p>\n

Kyiv is in “constant contact with the US team,” Zelensky said.<\/p>\n

Washington has currently suspended military aid to Ukraine as well as intelligence sharing and access to satellite imagery in a bid to force it to the table with Moscow, which launched its all-out invasion in February 2022 on orders from President Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n

Trump has renewed communication with Putin and criticised Zelensky, raising fears in Kyiv and among European allies that the US leader may try to force Ukraine to accept a settlement favouring Russia.<\/p>\n

On Friday, however, Trump said he was considering further sanctions on Russia for “pounding” Ukraine on the battlefield.<\/p>\n

Ukraine’s European allies last week held a summit with Zelensky and announced they would greatly increase defence spending.<\/p>\n

Britain and France have proposed a truce for Ukraine, at sea and in the air, and a halt to Russia’s bombardment of Ukraine’s power facilities.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian and British diplomats held talks in Kiyv at the weekend, Zelensky said.<\/p>\n

The Saudi talks come after the public altercation between Zelensky and Trump in the White House led to the Ukrainian leaving without signing a minerals deal demanded by the US leader.<\/p>\n

Zelensky later called the incident “regrettable” and said he was ready to work with Trump’s “strong leadership”.<\/p>\n

He also expressed readiness to sign the deal on strategic mineral reserves.<\/p>\n

Witkoff said Trump received a letter from Zelensky, calling it “a very positive first step” and “an apology”.<\/p>\n

Asked if Ukraine would sign the deal in Saudi Arabia, Witkoff said: “I think Zelensky has offered to sign it, and we’ll see if he follows through.”<\/p>\n

– ‘Not ready for peace’ –<\/strong><\/p>\n

Witkoff visited Moscow in February to secure the release of a jailed US teacher, and later said he spent a long time talking to Putin and “developing a relationship” with him.<\/p>\n

Waltz was in the Oval Office during Zelensky’s combative meeting with Trump and JD Vance.<\/p>\n

He later told Fox News that Zelensky “is not ready to talk peace” but “time is not on his side”.<\/p>\n

In an interview with CNN, Waltz said that if Zelensky’s “personal motivations or political motivations are divergent from ending the fighting… then I think we have a real issue”.<\/p>\n

– Saudi mediator –<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia has become a key host for US diplomacy with Russia and Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Rubio met in Riyadh last month, agreeing to resume dialogue and start talks on the Ukraine conflict.<\/p>\n

Zelensky has visited Saudi Arabia several times since Russia’s invasion in 2022 but postponed a trip last month, citing a lack of an invitation to the Russia-US talks.<\/p>\n

In 2022, five prisoners held in Russian-controlled Ukraine were flown to Riyadh to be exchanged after negotiations involving the crown prince.<\/p>\n

Putin said the crown prince also helped secure the release of jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, jailed by Russia for “espionage” last year.<\/p>\n

A historic ally of the US, the oil-rich state became an international pariah following the assassination of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey in 2018.<\/p>\n

But Witkoff has said Trump’s team has a “really good relationship with the Saudis”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is due to arrive in Saudi Arabia on Monday, a day ahead of crucial talks between Ukrainian and US officials on ending the war with Russia. Highly anticipated negotiations on Tuesday on resolving the three-year conflict will see US and Ukrainian officials meet for the first time since Zelensky’s disastrous White […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19122"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19122"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19124,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19122\/revisions\/19124"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}