Senior Trump administration figures are planning to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Saudi Arabia next week. Officials on both sides confirmed on Thursday. They will try one more time for diplomacy.
Ukraine is attempting to repair its tattered relationship with Washington, its largest benefactor. This is after Ukrainian President Zelensky turned a meeting meant to be a formality into an attempt to humiliate the US administration. Zelensky ruined the meeting immediately after Zelensky met with Democrats.
The Trillion Dollar Deal
President Donald Trump said that his first foreign visit would be to the kingdom and that, in return, the nation’s monarchy had offered to invest $1 trillion in American companies.
Witkoff told reporters Thursday that next week’s meeting will be between Zelenskyy, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, and national security adviser Mike Waltz. He added that the venue will be the capital, Riyadh, or the Red Sea city of Jeddah.
“I think the idea is to get down a framework for a peace agreement and an initial ceasefire,” he said. “We are now in discussions to coordinate a meeting with the Ukrainians.”
Zelenskyy confirmed the summit in a post on X, saying it would come after he meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday. “Ukraine is most interested in peace,” he wrote.
Peace?
“As we told @POTUS, Ukraine is working and will continue to work constructively for a swift and reliable peace.” That’s not obvious from his behavior.
Since then, US funds and weapons have been cut, as has intelligence sharing. The EU is trying to make up the difference. Until now, the EU has only paid a small fraction towards Ukraine’s war with Russia.
Mr. Zelenskyy spent the last four years telling Americans not to fear World War or nuclear war. This was as he attempted to get NATO boots on the ground.
Subscribe to the Daily Newsletter
wpDiscuz
