Senior officials from US President Donald Trump’s administration will start peace talks with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Saudi Arabia in the coming days, according to a US lawmaker and a source familiar with the planning.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US national security adviser Mike Waltz and White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Saudi Arabia, US Representative Michael McCaul told Reuters.
McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said it was his understanding that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had been invited to participate.
Ukraine-Russia War
He said the talks were aimed at arranging a meeting with Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky “to finally bring peace and end this conflict.”
Zelensky said on Saturday Ukraine would never accept any peace deals reached behind its back or without Kyiv’s involvement. Ukraine has repeatedly said it wants to come together with the United States and Europe to devise a joint strategy before any Trump-Putin meeting.
Parallel negotiations on a critical minerals deal continued on Saturday, with Zelensky saying a draft from Washington did not contain the security provisions that Kyiv needed. Three sources said the United States had proposed taking ownership of 50% of Ukraine’s critical minerals.
Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House on Thursday, said Ukraine would have a seat at the table during any peace negotiations with Russia over ending the war.
Europe won’t be involved in talks
Europe won’t have a seat at the table for Ukraine peace talks, Trump’s Ukraine envoy said on Saturday.
This came after Washington sent a questionnaire to European capitals to ask what they could contribute to security guarantees for Kyiv.
Trump administration officials have also made clear in recent days that they expect European allies in NATO to take primary responsibility for the region as the US now has other priorities, such as border security and countering China.
Asked about the prospects of the Europeans being at the table, Kellogg said: “I’m (from) a school of realism. I think that’s not gonna happen.”
At a later event at the conference, Kellogg sought to reassure Europeans by declaring this did not mean “their interests are not considered, used or developed.”
But European leaders said they would not accept being shut out of the talks.
“There’s no way in which we can have discussions or negotiations about Ukraine, Ukraine’s future or European security structure, without Europeans,” Finland’s President Alexander Stubb told reporters in Munich.
“But this means that Europe needs to get its act together. Europe needs to talk less and do more.”
This article was originally published at www.jpost.com
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