Senior Trump administration officials are heading to Saudi Arabia to start peace talks with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators, Politico reports. The initiative comes as a surprise development, with Ukrainian negotiators joining despite earlier statements from Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukraine had not been invited.
The US delegation will allegedly include National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, though Ukraine-Russia special envoy Keith Kellogg will be notably absent from the talks.
Donald Trump has confirmed plans for direct engagement with Vladimir Putin.
"We'll meet in Saudi Arabia, see if we can get something done," he told reporters Wednesday.
Texas Republican Mike McCaul confirmed that Waltz and Witkoff will join Rubio in Saudi Arabia during an interview at the Munich Security Conference.
"The president wants peace. But it's got to be a deal where the Ukrainians are at the table in this deal now," McCaul told Politico on the conference sidelines.
European allies have expressed concern over their exclusion from the negotiations.
"There will only be peace if Ukraine's sovereignty is secured. A dictated peace will, therefore, never find our support," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in Munich.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy remains skeptical of the initiative, particularly regarding Putin's intentions.
"Trump said to me that Putin wants to stop the war. I said to him 'Putin is a liar. I hope that you will pressure him because I don't trust him,'" Zelenskyy remarked at the conference.
The peace talks emerged amid controversial developments, including reports of a Trump administration proposal for Ukraine to exchange rare earth minerals for continued US military support. Adding to the complexity, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently ruled out Ukraine's NATO membership and the deployment of American or NATO forces in any future peacekeeping mission, though he later partially retracted these statements.
Read more:
- As US refuses to defend Europe, Russia's military budget now bigger than Europe's altogether
- US asked European capitals this week how many troops they can send to Ukraine, FT reports
- “If Russia couldn’t beat Ukraine in 2022, why would it win now?” A defiant voice amid despair
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